


Crave

by JazzJazz



Category: Batman - All Media Types, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Man of Steel (2013), Superman - All Media Types
Genre: Alpha Bruce, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alpha/Omega, Alternate Universe, Angst and Fluff and Smut, Awkward Sexual Situations, Bonding, Bottom Clark Kent, Claiming, Eventual Smut, Gotham City - Freeform, Knotting, M/M, Mating Cycles/In Heat, Mpreg, Omega Clark, Pining, Sexual Slavery, Slow Burn, Soulmates, Top Bruce
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-29
Updated: 2018-04-07
Packaged: 2018-07-10 18:36:52
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 13
Words: 54,069
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6999844
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JazzJazz/pseuds/JazzJazz
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>An exhausted Bruce is on his way back home after thwarting an Omega sex trade ring in Gotham's underground, when he runs into the young and scared Clark Kent. An Omega who separated himself from the rescued pack and found refuge in a dark alley.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Gotham by Night

**Author's Note:**

> My first try at an A/B/O fic set in an alternate DCEU in which Clark is 26 (ik random age number. Don't judge me) years old and has his MoS personality (Like how he runs away from the farm after his father's death and starts travelling around. It's actually how he found himself in this omega sex trade debacle but that will be touched on in the next chapters) and Bruce is a grumpy Batman as always in his mid-thirties, 35.

Gotham is a bizarre but wondrous city. In the past fifteen years, it has grown far beyond the imaginings of its majority Alpha and Beta socialites and remains a thriving city. In the day, it is immersed with the sights, the smells, the laughter, and everyday motions of city life. There are men and women in business suits walking fast paced, crossing the busy streets heading to their blue collar jobs with coffee in hand. And the city park is lively with blooming trees, shedding their colorful leaves for fall which the shoes of laughing children stomp on; fascinated by the crunchy sounds they produce.

 

But at night, it becomes a much darker place. At night it is seized by screams, gunshots, sinister laughter, and any other sounds brought on by the wrongdoings occurring in Gotham’s eeriest alleys.Traveling away from the busy metropolitan area of Gotham City, one finds themselves underground where spewing sewers and burping drains account for most of the surrounding noise and the stench. There, the streets are dirty and quiet at night unless they’re playing host to a few knife fights. But beyond that, Gotham by night isn’t a city that belongs solely to the criminal behaviors. It also belongs to the Batman.

 

Stalking the night for almost twenty years, there are still debates and whispers among Gothamites whether the Batman is human or a true creature of the night. Countless legends have been recited of his existence along with false testimonies from street thugs who swear they know who the real man behind the cowl is. Most are only looking for nothing but a few fifteen minutes of fame. The criminals of Gotham dread him and its people are rapt by him. It’s the perfect balance of opinion and conversation Bruce Wayne sought to cause when he first put on the suit.

 

Nelson Mandela once said, “When a man is denied the right to live the life he believes in he has no choice but to become an outlaw.” Mandela was imprisoned for twenty seven years being denied the right to live life as he believes in during South Africa’s apartheid fiasco, but what was Bruce Wayne’s excuse for imprisoning himself in Gotham city? Why did he subject himself to fighting off a different and more vulgar horror show night after night as his body and mind took beatings as well? It was an unhealthy way of living life but he doesn't want it any other way.

 

Life, the way Bruce Wayne believed in, was denied to him that fateful night of his parents’ murders and hasn’t shown any sign of catching up with Bruce for old time’s sake. Likewise, Bruce has yet to show any signs of accepting the invitation. He heard its calls once upon a time when he still had Dick Grayson and Jason Todd at his side.

 

Adopting and raising Dick Grayson after the young boy had lost his parents in a brutal murder resulted in some of Bruce’s happiest memories. Grayson trying on his too big for his little head cowl, Grayson pretending to drive the batmobile, and for some reason having giggle fits over Batman’s voice modulator. Memories as such never failed to put a smile on Bruce’s often weary and frowning face. The older man made sure Grayson grew up in an environment that invited life and the pursuit of happiness.

 

Bruce didn’t want Grayson to have grown up lonely and vengeful as himself. And for the most part, Bruce did a good job but unfortunately like most of the people he loves, his brash and harsh methods pushed Dick out of his life. Bruce believes it’s probably for the best. As with Jason, he could never forgive himself for letting a child die in his arms. Never. That wound is still fresh.

 

Thus, after falling out with Grayson and losing Jason to the Joker, Bruce did more than just turn his back to life. He absolutely seethed at the thought of it now. Having and then losing was not something he was willing to ever risk again. He loses too much. He’s grown as tired of that as much as he has of Gotham’s scum.

 

Gotham by night is like a rotting fruit; molded, pungent, and seeping. Oozing with the corruption of any innocence it presumed it had in the day time. And yet over the years, it is that that makes Bruce feel most at peace. Scrutinizing the darkness he knows so well when running above rooftops chasing after his prey has become almost therapeutic to him.

 

Alfred often delivered reoccurring lectures to Bruce about how the billionaire should let the life of vigilantism go in exchange for a career less criminal. He wants Bruce to maybe start a family as well. Lately, Alfred has gotten into the habit of trying to set him up on dates. When those weren’t so successful with Bruce, Alfred moved on to accepting dinner ball invitations for Bruce without his consent. He even went behind Bruce’s back to accept the ones Bruce had refused to attend beforehand. For the most part, Bruce couldn’t skip those as it became almost mandatory that Gotham’s richest attend them. One-nill Alfred on that front.

 

Bruce knows very well he can have this better life Alfred is pushing on him. But Bruce has little, if not, no desire to settle into the light when the darkness has become so much more fostering. Someone to fight and even break at night happily suffices his darker, wearier, and impatient psyche. So long as he was doing some good, he was content with his own often harsh actions. And tonight, Gotham city didn’t disappoint on that front.

 

A series of sex trafficking crimes Batman has been investigating saw one of its biggest busts tonight here in Gotham’s underground slums. Among the victims were Omegas as young as fifteen forced into sex slavery as they would be auctioned off to any interested wealthy and sleazy Alphas. Batman infiltrated the ring and pounded the living daylights out of the Alpha organizers, leaving their broken bodies out in the open street for the GCPD to find. Batman made sure to leave marks on them that would make them remember this night. The now free Omegas had been so terrified of his presence however and refused to leave their confines until ambulances and policemen arrived. But they were taken care of and that’s all that mattered to Bruce.

 

With their unique physiological design which allowed them to be mated by any sex and how rare they've now become, Omegas were being forced into sex slavery, unfortunately, at an alarming rate. This growing epidemic in turn, discouraged a lot of them from wanting to be mated and claimed out of fear of becoming mere slaves to their Alpha mates. There are stories of certain Omegas who could form bonds before they were mated through a phenomenon called, preliminary bonding. It's similar to finding a love "at first sight." Due to the superstitious nature of the phenomenon, Bruce dismisses it and doesn't believe such a bond exists. He certainly wishes it did. That way, not just any Alpha sleaze could pounce on an Omega in heat and claim them simply by mating with them first. Such a bond would allow for an Omega to have a biological say in whom they'd wanted to be mated by and would pair them up with the Alpha meant for them making the bond mutual. Mutual bonds were becoming very rare between Alphas and Omegas as of late if the big sex slavery ring infiltrated tonight was any proof of it.

 

An Alpha himself, Batman, made sure to avoid this strong uncontrollable biological attraction to Omegas that had some Alphas acting like animals around them. And in turn, treating Omegas as their pets; dehumanizing them. The rut suppressant pills he took ahead of tonight’s mission are abundant and always available. Especially when not too many Alphas chose to take them. Why would they when they can instead bathe in the joy of finding an unmated Omega to spend the week with?

 

Bruce always took the pills and therefore has yet to have been tempted by the scent of an Omega in heat. He was still drawn to their scent even while they weren't in heat but the temptation was never strong. It was controlled just as Bruce prefers it. He’s dreamt of mating but that’s about how as far as his desires went. So, tonight marked the end of one grueling detective task and beat down for the old man and more to come. Bruce couldn’t seem to know how to turn off his urge to look for trouble to thwart even if it was, “unequivocally killing him” as Alfred liked to say.

 

Now, walking on his way back home to rest, Batman tried to quiet the loud squishing of his usually stealth combat boots on the wet pavement and listened to his surroundings vigilantly. As he always does. It was wise to always be wary of the underground area of Gotham after hours. As he listened, he picked up soft whimpers which his ears localized to be coming from an alley ahead of him. Just to the right of an old run downed apartment building. And so he investigated.

 

Holding his breath, he approached the source of the sobs and peered into the dead ended alley. He could not make out who it was that was producing the sounds however. The broken street lamps in the area made it too dark to see. So, he decided to enter the alley blind until the sobs grew louder and his eyes could make out the figure of a person crouched against the concrete wall.

 

Batman produced a small flashlight from his utility belt and shined it on the mystery individual. The sudden ray of light prompted an expected loud gasp from them and they stared wide eyed at Batman. Bruce’s eyes narrowed curiously as he pondered if he recognized the stranger. It was a man, appearing significantly younger than Bruce but not by much, crouched against the dead end wall holding his knees very close to his chest. His civilian clothes consisted of holy capris jeans and a thin off white and torn t-shirt that barely provided any warmth from the cold Gotham city fall weather. Batman observed that the man was also barefoot with cuts and bruises scattered all around his exposed pale skin. His head was covered with a messy as well as wet mop of jet black hair that shadowed earnest brows evening out his overall boyish look. Even while fresh and healing small slashes covered the man’s tear streaked face, Bruce couldn’t deny the shaken visage of the young man in front of him was a strikingly eye-catching one.

 

With trembling lips the man spoke, his voice sore and cracking, “Don’t hurt me.” He says and holds up his quivering arms to create a protective shield for his face from the Batman.

 

Batman keeps his flash light on the stricken young man and kneels in front of him to get at a face a face level to ease the young man’s fear of him. It does the absolute opposite however. Now at eye level with Batman, the young man jumped and screeched calling him the devil and the demon that took his friends away tonight. The latter insult catches Bruce’s attention. Was this man an Omega? Even with the rut suppressant pills, Bruce should still catch the scent of one but he couldn’t pin point what this man was.

 

Turning off his voice modulator, Batman assures the man in his most soothing voice he’d allow, “I won’t hurt you. I’m only here to help.” Without warning, the man sneaks by Batman, curiously quick for a beaten man and tries to run away.

 

He doesn’t go far however as he trips and falls over seconds later when the metal lid of a nearby trashcan catches him. Landing knee first and twisting his ankle in the process, the man mumbled more curses and decided to crawl instead as far away from the Batman as possible. Batman didn’t have to see every second of the fall to know it was a bad one and feels bad that the presence of him caused it.

 

He catches up with the man before he could go very far and does something he hasn’t done in a while out on patrol like this; he takes off his cowl. He knelt in front on the young man again, now near a flickering street lamp offering some light source.

 

“Are you alright?” Bruce asks remorsefully. The whimpering man looks up and his sobs pause abruptly as he looked at the face that was previously hidden behind the cowl. As he examined Bruce’s handsome features, his nose flared up as if on instinct catching a whiff of the scent in the air around Bruce. An Alpha. But Bruce smells curiously different than any Alpha he’s been around. Rather that the smell of the scent takes on menacing implications for the man as it usually has from predatory Alphas, the smell was an enticing and inviting one instead.

 

“Were you among those Omegas rescued today?” Bruce asks, “Are they the friends you think I took away?”

 

As Bruce continued to interrogate the man without the cowl on, the once threatening chiseled jaw combined with the reveal of grey at the temples head of hair, and narrow dark eyes became more and more pleasing to the Omega. As the young man looked at Bruce, his Omega tendency sought to take over and he forced himself to keep them under control. He couldn’t trust any Alpha.

 

“W-what do you want from me?” The man asked and wanted to tell Bruce to leave him alone again but he wanted the opposite if he was honest with himself. He was scared and didn't want to be alone.

 

“I only want to keep you safe from harm. Are you an Omega?” Bruce asks quietly still curious of the peculiar scent coming from the man, “What is your name?”

 

The man hesitates and contemplates on which question he should answer first and wonders whether he should even answer them in the first place. He decides to give only his name, “C-Clark.” He stutters. He surprises himself by giving away his real name rather than an alias as he usually does.

 

“Clark.” Bruce echoes the name as if it’s the most fascinating name he’s ever heard. “Clark, we have to get you to a hospital to treat your wounds and find your home.”

 

Clark shakes his head quickly, panicked stricken again and wants to crawl away but can’t. The stinging pain from his twisted ankle keeps him in place. “No hospitals.” Clark says, his voice cracking with dread. “And I already was on my way home.” He lies.

 

“Well this ain’t a safe route home son.” Bruce says furrowing his brows, “Let’s get you to a hospital at least.”

 

 “No! They’ll find me and sell me back!” Clark blurts out and clenches his fist in frustration for clearly giving himself away.

 

“So you are an Omega.” Bruce confirms quietly, “Why is your scent different?”

 

Clark stays quiet, pondering whether to lie again to Bruce. But he is so tired and hurt that he doesn’t care to be deceptive with the Alpha stranger anymore, so he confesses. “Scent masking pills.” After another long pause, he continues, “They’re experimental. Given to me by one of the Omegas you rescued tonight. He didn’t tell me where he got them but they hide our smell from Alphas for a while. Some of us were able to sneak them and take them before we wanted to make an escape. If you were lucky, the Alphas running the ring didn’t recognize your face and you could slip past them and run away.”

 

“And you ran away from the pack tonight why? You were already safe.” Bruce says. He doesn’t know if it’s the cause of Clark confessing he was an Omega but Clark’s scent was suddenly assaulting his nose in the best way. Perhaps the pill’s masking effects were wearing off.

 

“I can never be truly safe yet.” Clark mutters and winces as his ankle stung.

 

Bruce notices the grimace and remembers he sought to help Clark in the first place, “If you don’t want to go to a hospital, show me where home is so I can take you to your family. Like I said, this isn’t a safe route home. Especially not for an Omega.”

 

Clark frowns and confesses again, “My home isn’t here. It’s on the other side of the Gotham bridge and I’m trying to avoid it because that’s where my bidder is. He’ll find me if he smells me there and I won’t let that happen. If he finds me, I’ll never have the chance to be free again.”

 

“Who’s he?”

 

“He’s called Lex." Clark says the name with clenched jaws. "I’m tired of hearing that name.” He turns his head away in disgust.

 

“Lex?” Bruce whispers the name in mild surprise. The revelation doesn’t fully surprise Bruce. Lex Luthor was a sociopath. Bruce sensed it the moment he shook hands with him at a business conference in Metropolis a few months ago. Many are fooled by his quirky youthful attitude but the man is very bright and very sneaky of his manipulative ways and Bruce was waiting for him to slip up soon on something criminal. Lex was one Alpha that would participate in the buying of Omega sex slaves. Among many other questionable things he’s found out about Lex, this definitely fits his m.o. After this, Bruce would have to tell Alfred he was right to have Lex on his radar. That being suspicious of Lex, wasn’t a matter of him being overly paranoid or tetchy with the competition. But why was Lex interested in this particular Omega?

 

“Is it okay if I ask why Lex wants specifically you all to himself?”

 

“It’s a long story. But long story short, he thinks I'm_Ow!” Clark was in the middle of answering when his ankle stung immensely again forcing him to give attention back to it.

 

Remembering Clark needed immediate medical attention rather than questions thrown at him, Bruce proposed to him, “If you don’t want to go to a hospital, is it alright that I treat you myself at my place? I can't leave you like this.” He reached out an inviting gloved hand to Clark, "I loathe what you must have went through."

 

Bruce braced himself for another denial. Clark’s body language didn’t show he was very trusting of Bruce and Bruce couldn’t blame him for that. But to his surprise, Clark didn’t reject him. He didn’t crawl away or call him a demon.

 

Instead, he darted his eyes between Bruce's face and chest for a while before he answered, “Yes. Take me.” and held out his arms to Bruce almost like a child. Bruce had qualms of the unforeseen invite for a moment but then accepted it, embracing Clark carefully and lifting him up bridal style in his arms. Clark shrank with a grimace in his arms and rested his head on the stitched large bat symbol of the suit. He closed his eyes tiredly while Bruce's aroma swamped him.

 

“Is this an okay way to carry you? It’s not hurting?” Bruce asked cautiously holding Clark. Clark wasn’t that small of a man but he felt it in Bruce’s arms.

 

Clark moaned in response that the carry was alright with him.

 

Bruce put the cowl back on and contacted Alfred from the earpiece.

 

“Alfred, the batmobile would be useful right now. Bring it over.”

 

From the earpiece Alfred’s voice sounds with both relief and worry, “What took you long sir? I feared for the worst. Did everything go all right?”

 

“Yes, Alfred. All of the victims were admitted to a hospital and are being taken care of. Well, all of them expect one whom I have with me here. This one doesn’t want to go to a hospital so I’m bringing him over to treat him myself.”

 

“Is this decision to do so a wise one sir?” Alfred asks alluding to Bruce Wayne’s old habit of sheltering young, orphaned boys at the manor just to have them later turn into his crime-fighting side kicks.

 

Bruce sighs, “I really meant what I said about never pursuing that again.”

 

“Very well sir.” Alfred answers, “The car is on its way to your location. It should arrive in about six minutes.”

 

“Thank you Alfred, see you soon.”

 

“Who’s Alfred?” Clark mumbles as Bruce carries him out of the secluded alley and onto the open and quiet street.

 

“A good friend. You’ll like him.”

 

4 am ticks off the large Gotham clock tower on the far misty horizon, waking up the birds that begin their chirping at the crack of dawn. They sing harmonious with the ghostly howling sound of the wind. Among these sounds, the loud roar of the approaching batmobile is heard from the distance.

 

With Clark snuggled in his arms, Bruce noticed daylight begin to creep over the skyline ahead of them. The moon shone dimly now as it slowly sunk behind industrial buildings and modern skyscrapers, waving goodnight to the rising sun. The view paints a warm and breathtaking picture of approaching morning that almost has Bruce forget of the repulsions he encountered all but a few hours ago. Gotham City will do that you.

 


	2. Signals

On the drive back, Bruce didn’t want to query Clark any more than he already had. And he was glad Clark was too tired to query him. By the time they pulled up behind Wayne Manor, Clark was long gone into a deep and soundless sleep. The Bat mobile parked on top of a cleverly hidden entrance that would open up and drop the car into the bat cave by the click of a button.

 

Bruce nudged Clark awake gently, causing him to jump. His eyes went wide and his body alert.

 

“It’s okay. We’re here.”  Bruce whispered.

 

Clark’s eyes glowered suspiciously at Bruce before they darted away and started to look at the view around them. “Oh.” He gasped.

 

The marble fountain in front of them was the first thing that caught Clark’s eyes. The cream coating of its paint blazed as the light from the rising sun beamed down on it, driving Clark to squint. In the middle of the fountain was the weathered statue of a winged angel in a kneeling position with its head looking to the sky. The statue had cupped hands pressed together, catching the spurting water which went on to empty into the fountain.

 

While Clark’s ears listened to the crackling rhythmic sounds of the fountain water, his eyes now followed the neatly trimmed shrubs encircling the entire mansion. At least, he supposes they encircled the whole mansion. This was only half the view. He then gawked at the large pool he somehow missed earlier, just behind the fountain. It shimmered with crystal blue water which reflected the Victorian mansion with dormant balefulness. It wouldn't be a Gotham city mansion without some element of sinisterness. Clark was beginning to pick that pattern up already. But, the manor itself stood tall, wide, and palatial. 18th century built and sitting on about 140 acres of lavish extensive countryside.

 

“Wow.” Clark mouthed in awe. He turned to Bruce, “Who are you?”

 

Bruce stepped out of the vehicle, de-cowled, and properly introduced himself to Clark extending his hand, “Bruce.” He said, “Bruce Wayne.” He didn’t mean for the introduction to sound so James Bond-ish but it made Clark smile. The Omega took his hand and allowed Bruce to carefully pick him up again.

 

With his arms wrapped around Bruce’s neck, Clark muttered. “Wayne... I know that name.”

 

Then he went ecstatic, “You’re a billionaire! The Bruce Wayne?!”

 

There was a Wayne Int. headquarter in Metropolis and Clark recognized the logo as well as the name, but had never seen or met the man with the name.

 

“Yes.” Bruce answered simply. He didn’t share the same excitement as Clark. Getting used to the reaction over the years has tired Bruce out of his proud reaction to it.

 

“The Bruce Wayne.” He mumbled to himself as they approached the weathered cobblestone steps that led to a large, black double door. One either sides of it hung two gold sculpts of roaring lion heads. The handles on the door were also polished and gold. Clark wowed quietly again as Bruce knocked twice on each one of the doors.

 

“Is that a code way of opening the door?” Clark asked curiously. As he asked the question, the Bat mobile quietly disappeared underground behind them.

 

“No.” Bruce replied as the two big doors slowly went ajar. “It’s how I let Alfred know it’s me.” And sure enough, there was Alfred inviting them in.

 

“Alfred, Clark. Clark, Alfred.” Bruce introduced one to the other with a small yawn.

 

“Nice to meet you, Master Clark.” Alfred welcomed the young Omega. Clark was in motion to extend a hand for Alfred to shake but noticed Alfred had bowed to him.

 

The posh manner of the greeting made Clark snicker a little. “Nice to meet you too Alfred.” He greeted him back with a nod and a smile.

 

“I’m quite old school.” Alfred joked responding to Clark’s snicker, “And it’s an easier greet with one’s hands occupied.”

 

Clark nodded and laughed politely. Bruce was right. He liked Alfred. Clark felt he could be trusted. One: he was a Beta not an Alpha and two: he had a sort of grandfatherly way about him that Clark felt at ease with. Even the accent, which caught Clark off guard, was a charming one.

 

Bruce carried Clark past the large area of the living room and into the high ceiling plus equally large dining hall. Alfred pulled out one of the many mahogany chairs positioned neatly around a matching mahogany table, and motioned for Bruce to sit Clark down on it.

 

“You brought the kit?” Bruce asked Alfred while he squat down to examine Clark’s injured ankle. Alfred answered yes and handed him a standard First Aid kit.

 

Alfred, noticing the bleeding and swollen ankle grimaced a tad, “Not the worst of injuries I’ve seen but it does need tending to. Good luck.” He patted Bruce on the shoulder and left them alone in the dining hall.

 

Clark whimpered in pain as Bruce continued to examine his ankle. “Is a dining area really a good place for this?” He asked. The velvet Sheet Linoleum flooring looked too rich to have blood staining it.

 

“I’ll clean up after. We’re fine here.” Bruce assured. He looked awfully focused and serious examining the gash that, Clark wondered if he was a doctor.

 

“Are you a doctor?” he asked. Anything to distract him from the pain.

 

“Hm.” Bruce hummed. He let go of Clark’s leg and swapped his black Kevlar gloves with medical ones. “You could say that.”

 

Bruce wasn’t much of a talker and Clark picked on that quick as well. It was slightly upsetting. They just met but, Clark already grew to enjoy the deep, smooth, and underlying gravelly quality of his voice. Thinking it was even sexy at times..

 

Clark flinched, taken aback that he merely thought that so suddenly.

 

Bruce stopped cleaning the dry blood around his ankle and looked up, “Are you okay?” He asked concerned.

 

“Y-yea, sorry. I just got a random chill. I’m fine.” Clark answered quickly. Bruce looked at him oddly before resuming treating him. Clark sighed deeply. He noticed he was beginning to feel a little itchy all of the sudden and a little wet.

 

Oh he recognized this state all too well. Don’t tell me I’m going in heat soon already, he whined internally. His heat shouldn’t hit him for another three weeks and only once had his cycles gone off schedule. He really didn’t want to think about it.

 

Luckily enough for him, his mind soon had something else to focus on. Bruce finished up the cleaning of the blood around his wound and now started to work on the gash itself. It was excruciating! Clark squirmed in his seat, almost sliding out of it but Bruce being a lot stronger than he was, pushed him back and held him steadily.

 

“Clark,” He said through gritted teeth, concentrating on Clark’s bleeding ankle, “I really need you to stay still.”

 

“It really hurts. It hurts!” Clark whined. His body was trembling all over due to the pain and a little due to Bruce’s touch too. He couldn’t stop it.

 

“I know but you have to stay still.” Bruce grunted as he kept Clark from moving.

 

“Bruce, be gentle please!” He whimpered.

 

“Maybe it’s because you’re looking. Look away Clark.”

 

Clark groaned and refused to look away, keeping his grimacing stare on the deep and bloody gouge on his ankle.

 

“Look away.” Bruce repeated gently but was really growing impatient by the second.

 

A high pitched cry of complaint sounded from Clark but he finally looked away and shut his eyes tightly.

 

“Okay. Now I’ll just carefully dab it with the antibiotic.” Bruce mumbled.

 

“Just do it gen_Ow! Fuck!” Clark hissed, cursing.

 

“I have to stop the bleeding.” Bruce said over Clark’s expletives and nearly felt the sting of Clark’s pain for a bit.

 

“Shit!” Clark screeched in disbelief of the agony, “Ugh! Ow Bruce don’t squeeze!”

 

“Clark, look away.”

 

The Omega continued to hiss in distress, “Don’t squeeze.” he begged.

 

“I have to stop the bleeding.” Bruce sounded like a broken record now given how much he had to repeat himself.  As Clark sputtered out more expletives and sobs, Bruce cleaned off the excess antibiotic from the skin around the wound and exhaled deeply. With the hardest part of the treatment now over, he began to bandage Clark’s ankle up.

 

“That really hurt.” Clark sniffled, watching Bruce wrap the elastic bandage around his ankle expertly.

 

“I’m guessing you probably don’t want me to look at your knees and other cuts huh?” Bruce said. Was there an accent of humor there? Clark couldn’t tell. He was in too much pain to.

 

“Oh no thanks. Those aren’t too bad. I can live with those.” Clark sobbed quietly, “God. That hurt.”

 

With a sigh, Bruce finished the wrap job and apologized, “I’m sorry.” He patted Clark’s leg then said, “I think it would be best if you slept over here today.”

 

“Are you kidding me? You live in a mansion. Yes.” Clark grinned while saying; shaking his head in faux disbelief. Teasing Bruce. Bruce didn’t care for it.

 

“You can have my room.” The Alpha simply said then got up, opened his arms wide to stretch, and did a clumsy semi-circle turn as he lost his balance a bit. Clark laughed a little which Bruce didn’t hear over his loud yawn.

 

“I know you’re just really tired but you look like you’re drunk at the moment.” Clark said unknowingly smiling flirtatiously at Bruce. Good thing Bruce was way out of his element to notice. He merely raised a quizzical eyebrow.

 

“Oh trust me; you don’t know Master Wayne drunk unless you’ve witnessed the real thing.” Alfred joined them in the dining hall again. “That was quick.” He said to Bruce when he saw Clark was all bandaged up and fixed.

 

“Well. I’m glad Bruce was able to find you to help.” Alfred bowed to both of them, “Master Clark. Bruce. Although it’s already morning, goodnight to you both.”  Clark snorted again. He was never going to get used to being called, ‘Master.’

 

He waved goodnight to Alfred while Bruce accompanied the butler out discussing more things Clark had no idea about. In the dining hall alone now, Clark enjoyed looking around at the impressive and expensive decoration. Most Gothic and some centuries old.

 

Bruce came back a few minutes later. “Ready to head upstairs to the bedroom to clean up?” he asked. Clark was still in a state of awe of how big and beautiful the Manor looked both inside and out.

 

“Yeah, that’d be great.” He said. “Will the bandage wrapping be fine in water?”

 

“Yes. The elastic is waterproof.” Bruce answered and gestured for Clark to put a hand around his shoulders so he could pick him. “Hold on to me.”

 

They carefully made their way up the spiraling brown-tiled staircase, passing portraits of Bruce’s deceased parents; Thomas and Martha Wayne. In Bruce’s master suite, they went into the bedroom where Bruce sat the tired looking Clark on an armless seat just at the foot of the bed. 

 

Without saying a word, Bruce walked over to his walk in closet and sifted through it searching for some clothes and a towel for Clark.  When he found the suitable items for Clark, he set the clothes on the bed neatly and handed Clark the towel.

 

“Think you’re fine by yourself now?” Bruce asked.

 

Clark nodded and thanked him. He got himself off the seat without a problem, and limped toward the bathroom. Bruce watched him struggle for a while in silence. Clark could probably handle himself but, the thought that he could fall and hurt himself even more badly in the shower nagged at Bruce.

 

“Clark,” Bruce called his name quietly. Clark stopped limping and turned around to see what Bruce wanted.

 

“I can just fix you a bath.” Bruce suggested.

 

“No. I would just be sitting in my own filth.” said Clark, respectfully refusing the nice gesture.

 

He went into the bathroom and closed the door behind him. He leaned on it and sighed deeply, closing his eyes for a moment. He then undressed and waddled into the shower. There was a shower and a separate bath in the room.

 

Clark chose the shower of course and was glad it stood like this on its own without a tub. That made it easier for him to maneuver about. Holding on to the grab bar for balance, he turned on the faucet and adjusted the temperature before he stepped under the flowing stream. He tested the water with his fingers to see if the water was warm enough and went under it when it was.

 

He couldn’t help but whine when the warm water hit his bruised skin; burning his cuts and scrapes too. He hadn’t showered in about a week since he was made to travel around with the Alpha kidnappers. They often would not allow some of the Omegas to clean up; saying that the scent was more attractive to the Alpha bidders when they didn’t.

 

That nightmare was over for Clark and he was glad for it. Well, it was over for now. He didn’t know what his plans would be now that he was free. He knows he wants to go back to Smallville. Home. He wanted see his mother again. He missed her so much. Along with his childhood long best friends Lois and Jimmy, who lived in Metropolis. 

 

Those reunions would have to wait. He wasn’t safe there while Lex still wanted him. Luthor was probably founding out that he escaped and would come looking for him soon again. He’ll undoubtedly send some of his Alpha goons after him also. It was just a matter of when they would begin to show up. He doesn’t want to put Bruce in danger when that happens. Clark felt immediately an absorbing of dread. The story he’d have to tell Bruce to convince the man to let him stay here at the Manor for some time would be a long one. He needed all the protection he could get.

 

What Clark would do in the meantime? He doesn’t know. There was only one thing he should ultimately do however. That was to find a suitable mate that wasn’t Lex. If he found an Alpha to mate him, it would forever get Lex off his back. Lex would be furious (Clark hoped so) to smell that he was taken but at least it would force him to leave him alone. The problem was finding an Alpha that didn’t see Omegas as pets, whores, or lesser humans.

 

Bruce has been very caring and nice to him so far so maybe he’d make a good mate... But something told Clark Bruce wasn’t interested. Omegas and even Alphas probably threw themselves at the man. And if despite that, he was still single without a mate or a family, he wouldn’t be interested in that now.

 

There was also the possibility that another selfish side of Bruce would show itself after mating. Bruce could leave Clark while Clark would be forced to be loyal to him because of the bond. Alphas could break that bond and no longer love their Omegas but the case wasn’t the same for Omegas. An Omega’s love for his Alpha mate was forever. Clark found that to be unfair.

 

Clark is better off mate-free but he desired a family. Even if the idea of finding a mutual mate was far-fetched, he wouldn’t give up pursuing that happiness. He kept to the words his mother has repeated to him since his first heat at thirteen.

 

Clark's first heat terrified him. He started earlier than most Omegas who had their first at fifteen. His heat hit him in the middle of class one random day. That day, he was thankful for Lois and Jimmy who practicality had to drag away the animalistic Alpha male students from raping him. He especially remembers Lois screaming at Lex, who was confusingly curious of the pull he had to Clark. No one was getting past Lois to get to Clark that day though.

 

Clark recalls crying his eyes out, not knowing what was happening to his body. He felt like a freak. He was wet, dripping with slick that day and wanted to be filled so much that it hurt. When Jimmy and Lois walked him back to the farm after a visit to the school nurse, his mother knew immediately the cause of his distress when she saw the state of her son at the door.

 

She ran to him and held him, the tightest she'd ever held him in her life. His father thanked Lois and Jimmy for keeping an eye on Clark and said they forever owed them a lot. Trying to calm her son down, Martha gave Clark ‘the talk’ about his changing body and his being an Omega. She then told him to be careful around Alphas now and to always be around Lois and Jimmy at school. After, she cleaned him up, sat him down on her lap, and told him this story to calm his terror and confusion.

 

She had said to him. “ _Clark. You’re a special boy. A special human being. There aren’t a lot of Omegas. This is a blessing and there’s an age old story my mother told me about Omegas who had their heat this early. She said it meant there was an Alpha out there meant just for you. Your true love.  Only he can have you and wants to have you and make you happy, protect you, and everything else to show his love. When you find him and see him, you both would have already bonded by simply seeing each other. He will not know it but you will. And the bond you’d both create when you join together will be a very special one. A soul bond. It can never be broken. You both will still be able to feel each other’s pain, happiness, sadness, and even fear while being miles apart. It’s a rare bond but, Clark, I believe today is a sign of that_.”

 

True loves? Bonds that can’t be broken? It all sounds like a fairy tale, yes, but Clark wanted to believe it. Even if his mother made it up to make him feel better about being an Omega, it was one hell of a story.

 

Along with the rain of water from the shower head, hot tears began to trickle down Clark’s face too. He missed his mother and friends so greatly.

 

*Tap. Tap* A knock on the bathroom door disturbed Clark out of his memories, "Everything okay?” the muffled voice of Bruce asked.

 

Clark composed himself, turned off the water, and said he was fine. Stepping out of the shower, he reached for his towel on the towel rack and almost fell but caught himself. He still hit the wall beside him pretty hard in the process. But his shoulder taking a hit was better than falling to the floor and causing more distress to that ankle.

 

Bruce was still behind the bathroom door when he heard ruckus. He knocked again. “Clark?” he called. His instinct was to go in and check on the young man but he didn’t want to barge in and disrupt his privacy.

 

Seconds later, Bruce sighed in relief when he heard Clark faintly say, “I’m fine.”

 

Clark toweled down and wrapped the towel around his waist. Staring into the mirror, he observed that his curly and damp hair almost fell down his shoulders. He needed a haircut. Minutes later, he came out of the bathroom and found Bruce sat at the corner of the bed, snoozing and already in sleepwear ready for bed. He must have showered somewhere else while Clark was musing in the bathroom.

 

As Clark’s noisy shambles woke him up, Bruce’s lashes batted about lazily as his eyes brightened, happy to see Clark had an injury free shower. He noticed also, Clark’s bright and strikingly artic blue eyes like he’d never seen them before. He gazed into them, unintentionally causing Clark to blush timidly and look away.

 

When Clark left his stare, Bruce blinked back into the present and rubbed his eyes, “I’m sorry. I’m very tired.” He apologized.

 

“Oh no, you’re fine.” Clark mumbled flustered, and shuffled to the bed to get the clothes Bruce left for him.

 

Now he felt immensely awkward being half-naked in front of Bruce and wanted to distract himself from the inelegance with quips. But man was Bruce oblivious and unresponsive to those. Ignoring his comments, Bruce turned his head as Clark dressed behind him. When Clark gave the okay to, he looked at him again.

 

“All good?” Bruce asked.

 

Clark smiled and nodded. Bruce frowned, noticing the shirt he had given him was a size too large on him. It wore low on the omega and the sleeves slumped down his shoulders. The boxer shorts fit nicely around his wider hips however. He noted that when Clark lifted the tail of the long t-shirt to adjust them,

 

“The shirt seems too big; I can get you a smaller one if you'd like.” Bruce recommended.

 

“No it’s fine. I like to wear oversized t-shirts to bed anyway.” Clark said smiling small. He hadn’t wrapped his head around how big the Alpha was until now; wearing his shirt which hung on his body like a mini dress.

 

“Thank you for helping me. This is all really nice.” said Clark, shifting around shyly.

 

“No problem.” Bruce said and yawned. “So, you can stay here in my bedroom for today. I’ll take another room.”

 

He stood up and Clark sulked watching the big man, disappear out of his frame. He didn’t even say goodnight, thought Clark. It wasn’t until Bruce was about to open the door of the master suite, that fear and loneliness paralyzed Clark, and he called his name. Bruce was in the bedroom again in no time, to see what Clark needed.

 

Clark was leaning on the frame of the King sized bed looking nervous. “You want me to sleep alone on this?” Clark asked softly.

 

He knew his question was stupid but he could not shake this growing feeling he had of wanting Bruce close to him. Maybe it was his being scared or his looming heat. Whatever the case, he didn’t want to sleep alone. He didn’t want to be alone at all.

 

Bruce stared at him peculiarly, “That was the plan. Is there a problem?”

 

God, he really didn't want to spell it out for Bruce. “Well, it’s your bedroom after all and the bed is… big enough.” Clark’s voice dropped back near the end.

 

Bruce’s continuous funny stare pushed him to clarify himself, “You can sleep here too.” Clark said it and wanted to say no more after that. He couldn’t even face Bruce anymore without going red.

 

Bruce slowly pointed a finger at his own chest, "You want me to..." Clark's head was still down as he nodded, ‘yes.’

 

Another long, agonizing silence and Bruce ended up accepting Clark’s bizarre ask without question, “Okay. I’ll join you in a moment.” He muttered in fatigue. Bruce knew, in the back of his head, that this wasn't wise. But, he wanted for Clark to feel safe after tonight.

 

In the bed, Clark heard the click of a door and seconds later, Bruce was back. When the Alpha joined him under the covers, it was the most relaxed his body has ever felt near one in a long while.

 

“While this is my main bedroom, I don’t mind sleeping in another room Clark.” Bruce whispered. He slept far from Clark, almost right at the very edge of the bed. He didn’t want to overestimate how close the Omega wanted him.

 

“I understand." Clark said. He was aware that Bruce was too close to the edge of the bed; hesitant to get more comfortable and take up some of the abundant available bed space. And so, Clark embarrassed himself further. He tugged Bruce’s arm and pulled him closer. Bruce was bemused with his action but let Clark cuddle in closer to his body in a spooning position. He went with what Clark wanted, saying nothing as always.

 

“I don’t bite.” Clark purred quietly. Sensing Bruce’s tentativeness as to where to place his arm, Clark again embarrassed himself by guiding Bruce’s arm to wrap around his waist.

 

He said softly to Bruce, "I'm not diseased you know. I don't mind."

 

Clark’s embarrassment went away as quickly as it came. He’s always liked to cuddle. Not to mention, he usually gets like this too before his heat. No doubt it was around the corner. He’d worry about it when the time came. Either way, he was relieved that Bruce went with his weird actions once more and actually held him more comfortably.

 

Clark felt happy and peaceful for now. Bruce felt bewildered and confused with himself. Since he ran into the Omega, he’d been acting too… lax with him and a little out of his usual vigilant character. He’d blame it on his fatigue but even when he’s tired, he’s never been this negligent.

 

He’d blame it on just being around an Omega but he hadn’t been like this with the other Omegas he saved tonight. Well, perhaps he would have been had he spent as much time with them as he has with Clark so far.

 

This wasn’t the right moment to be introspective, Bruce decided.  He would do the damage control and question his gauche actions later. As well as question Clark on the origins of his Lex situation.

 

Clark’s body was soft and warm against his own and he struggled not to pull it even more towards him. Not to mention the way he smelled…Yes, this wasn’t wise.

 

“Goodnight Bruce.” whispered Clark, placing his hand over Bruce’s on his waist. The touch caused Bruce to flinch slightly.

 

There was a moment of silence where only the low humming of the air conditioner and the soft huffs of their breaths sounded.

 

Bruce’s throat tightened and he was suddenly tongue-tied, but finally he says back, “Goodnight Clark.”

 

The two words put a smile on Clark’s face and lead him into a much needed, dreamless slumber. 


	3. Freaky Friday

Clark woke up feeling warm. Very warm. And he was also trapped. Trapped under the strong hold of Bruce, who was making low, guttural growls as he grinded against him enthusiastically. Given Clark’s all around negative experience with Alphas, his habituated reaction would be to claw at and push the Alpha away from him. But by some unprecedented change of course, he did not do that. He was actually finding that he…liked it.

 

They were still in a spooning position and Clark could feel the Alpha’s bulge against him; big and iron hot through his thin layered pajama bottoms. Clark couldn’t think straight at all. Especially not as Bruce’s face nuzzled the crook of his neck, delighting it with hot pants. The Omega shivered at the sensation as arousal swayed his body. He clutched his pillow with a shaky hand and decided to let Bruce continue until…he finished?

 

Biting his lip, Clark fought to keep from moaning over the Alpha’s grunts as he enjoyed the increasing heat their bodies in friction were producing. When Bruce’s big hand inched towards his crotch however, he yelped. He couldn’t stop the yelp from coming out. It was loud enough that it woke Bruce up instantly. And once the Alpha realized what he was doing to Clark in his sleep, he drew back in horror and fell of the bed with a hard thud.

 

“Oh Bruce, are you okay?” Clark asked. His voice cracked.

 

Bruce did not answer him.

 

Not wise! The Alpha screamed in his head from the floor. He had landed acrobatically on his elbows in a planking position, trying to catch his breath and take control of his arousal. Bruce is an exceptional man. His body can endure the most brutal of tasks and achieve the most fantastic feats of physicality. He’s a quick learner with a photographic memory that has allowed him to be extremely knowledgeable in physics, chemistry, biology, math, and other such subjects and to know as many as thirty different languages fluently.

 

But peak physicality and intelligence aside, he was still human. An Alpha who had desires. Desires that were beyond his control especially when around an Omega. The scent coming off from Clark was overwhelmingly enticing. It flowed all around his body trapping him in chains, and punching out of him any ideas of control.

 

“Clark, are you in heat?” He asked from under the bed.

 

“Y-y-yea, I think so.” Clark stuttered, slowly coming to the realization. That was probably the reason why he was loving Bruce dry humping him. But there was more to it then that and it was hounding at him. 

 

“Why didn’t you warn me beforehand?” The Alpha asked with an accidental tone of annoyance in his voice.

 

“I-I’m sorry. It’s off schedule. I’m not s-supposed to have it until another th-three weeks.” Clark replied whilst whimpering.

 

He felt bad for not warning Bruce about it being right around the corner despite the fact. But he was just as shocked that his heat was already hitting him again when he’d recently went off it a week ago. What was wrong with him? Was this a side effect of the scent masking pills he took?

 

On the floor, Bruce was still making low guttural growls. Even with the daily intake of the rut suppressant pills, his instinct to mate the Omega was very strong. The pills were having no effect at the moment. Utterly confused by the realization, Bruce wondered whether he remembered to take a pill before he went to bed as he always does. Because of Clark’s distracting scent however, his brain couldn’t properly recall whether he did or not. He had to get away from the Omega. So he closed his eyes and steadied his breathing.

 

“I’ll go find you some heat suppressant drugs.” is all he said when he felt a regain of some control. Standing up, he left the bedroom in a frowning hurry and avoided looking at Clark or making eye contact with him.

 

Clark hadn’t moved out of his position since Bruce rolled off the bed away from him as if he had a biohazardous outbreak. He felt so humiliated and ashamed. He would continue to lie in the bed still, questioning Bruce’s sudden sweet to horny to scared to grumpy mood change, but he had problems of his own. Slick was falling down his thighs and he had to get off the bed quickly.

 

The first day of his heats weren’t so bad but for some reason he was wetter than he normally would be. It’s probably because Bruce fueled his arousal.

 

Limping to the bathroom, he muttered, “Shit.” and opened the door hastily.

 

Once inside and with the door securely closed behind him, he tried to get his panting under control. He was sweating now and hot beyond reasoning so he thought to just do it. He tried to talk himself out of doing it but his boxers were so damp and when the cold stickiness rubbed against his hole, only more slick developed. It was so wrong to be doing this at someone else’s place but he had to sate himself temporarily. So, he threw his head back, pressing it to the door, and bit back a moan.

 

“Okay. Just a quickie.” He sighed to himself.

 

He put a hand inside his boxers and moaning softly, parted his knees slightly. First, he began to stroke himself slowly and later impatiently buried two fingers inside his wet hole. As soon as he penetrated himself, the image of it being Bruce Wayne claiming him instead of his own fingers, possessed him for mere seconds, pushing his orgasm on him immediately. His eyes opened in total shock as soft gasps drew from his speechless parted lips.

 

“What the fuck?” He panted, nearly falling to the floor from his trembling. But he held on to the door knob to keep himself up.

 

That, what had just occurred, has never happened before.

 

Finishing too quickly? That occasionally happened during his heats. It was normal. But picturing an actual person while pleasuring himself never happened. When he touched himself, it was to faceless and nameless men, but today was the first time he pictured an actual person. Bruce. What the hell did it mean? Something was going on here…His body _wanted_ Bruce, craved him and it made no sense because they have no bond. Naturally, his unclaimed body should be craving _any_ Alpha. Not just one in particular. 

 

Looking down at the mess below him, he frowned. Now came the shameful part of having to clean up. And these were Bruce’s clothes too. Oh God, the awareness makes him feel even dirtier. And as sudden as everything that’s happened thus far, Clark began to cry. Another side effect of his heats was being hyperemotional. Especially on the first day. Unstoppable waterfalls of tears washed down his cheeks as he thought to make sense of his current situation. He did _like_ Bruce. What else could be the source of the strong desire he had for him? And it wasn’t unlike him to fall for someone so fast. The Omega tried to stop his sobbing, aiming to avoid a breakdown. After he takes his pills, maybe he can began to think clearly about all of these new feelings. The thought makes him call down a tad.

 

When he felt he was emotionally stable again, Clark quickly undressed for a shower. As he took his shower, he shamefully hand washed the mess out of Bruce’s clothes too. When he finished, he hung the clothes out on the clean tub to dry. He'd get Alfred to help him dry them in a more appropriate way later. Looking in the mirror, he saw his eyes showed too much evidence of heavy crying but he didn’t care to hide it. It’s not like Bruce would care anyways. He reacted angry with him when he woke up and probably planned to avoid him. He reacted as if it was all Clark’s fault. All his life, it’s always been his fault. Maybe he’s overreacting but, the way Bruce recoiled from him when he woke up and left without even looking at him said everything. 

 

“Ugh!” He groaned in frustration. He _hated_ his heats.

 


	4. Nocturnal Reflections

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everything that happens on the night after that awkward afternoon when Clark and Bruce woke up. And more on Clark's past. And things get...interesting b/w Clark and Bruce near the end. ;)
> 
>  **WARNING:** Clark recalls a Non-Con moment (rape) from his past and other attempts in this chapter. That's why that Non-Con/Rape warning tag is there!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was so much for one chapter but I didn't want to separate it all! I hope the flashbacks aren't too confusing!

Bruce can’t resolve what’s worrying him more. That he found out he actually took a rut suppressant pill before he went to bed and it did nothing to slow down his mating instincts or that he’s at another high society party, miles from the manor and he could still smell the Omega’s scent. Distance was having no affect either. Ignoring Clark isn’t going to be a very effective plan for long but he needed some time to himself to get a grip of his situation.

 

Bruce isn’t angry with Clark (as he imagines Clark probably assumes given that his tone with him had been one of annoyance), he’s much angrier at himself. He’s never dealt with an Omega in heat without being prepared for it.  Usually sagacious, it angers him that he did not think of a scenario in which the pills wouldn’t work all of the sudden or in which he’s run out of them. The Caped Crusader had no contingency plan for this case. He would have to deal with it the old fashioned way. Avoidance with a pinch of panic.

 

Adjusting the tightness of his bow-tie for the hundredth time this evening, he accepted another glass of champagne offered by a petite blonde waitress. This is his second and last glass he’ll actually drink for the night. The last thing he wants to do is to get drunk or buzzed while his main focus was to gain some control of himself.

 

Taking a sip, Bruce noticed the same blonde waitress had been serving him drinks thus far in the soiree. She smiles and occasionally winks at him whenever their eyes lock. She’s even putting more sway in her hips when she sensed he was watching her walk away. She’s sending him obvious signals and he’s picking them up but he’s not in the mood. Well, not in the mood for her. Although, sex would probably do him some good.

 

"Bruce!"

 

Bruce lazily guided his stare towards who it was that had called his name.

 

A seductive hourglass figure, perfectly fit inside a black, cut out mini dress approached him.

 

"Selina?" he muttered surprised, taking in how flawless she looked.

 

A questioning, "What are _you_ doing here?" tone is definitely not the way someone would wish to be greeted but he rarely sees her at these sorts of events. Mainly because they host wealthy Moguls.  Among whom are self-righteous and unfit for polite society Moguls, which Bruce often found insulting to be associated with. But it’s a necessary association.

 

Without hesitation, she purposefully presses her full chest against his and smiles big up at him.

 

"Hello to you too Bruce, long time no see." she knows that Bruce _knows_ her so she doesn't question his surprise to be seeing her here.

 

His eyes fall to her chest, shamelessly enjoying the view. “Long time no see? We saw each other two weeks ago.” He murmured.

 

Selina teasingly fiddles with his bowtie and purrs, “That’s a long time for me.”

 

Bruce’s eyes leave Selina’s chest to look at her face. He marvels at her deep and brilliant green eyes and smiles. He smiles because for a second, he saw Clark’s vibrant blue ones instead.

 

He blinked once to shake the vision away. Weird.

 

He scanned the crowd with a pointed finger and asks her, "Which one of these desperate older men are you schmoozing to, to be able to come to a soiree like this. Hm?”

 

Selina reacts to his question with faux offense and places a dramatic hand to her chest, "Bruce! I can get by myself you know."

 

Bruce grins at the theatrical response. He then downs his champagne in one go, just in time for the empty glass to be taken out of his hands by a server.

 

Bruce's attempt at a jest is harsh but she's used to his dry humor and not so latent jerk of an attitude. She actually finds it attractive at times.

 

“Wanna dance?” She asks. Bruce accepts her invite.

 

“You didn’t answer my question by the way.” He mumbles in her ear. She shivers and they now begin to swing across the ballroom floor.

 

As they dance, Selina can feel the stares of the other women at the soiree, jealous with envy. After a while, Bruce maneuvers Selina around graciously so that she could scan the crowd as he was about to. He places his chin on the inside of her shoulder as they now sway steadily back and forth to an unknown violin tune.

 

Like this, Bruce attempted to pick out Selina’s date from the crowd, “Now let’s see if I can find him…”

 

He points to a middle aged, haughty looking man guffawing away with his acquaintances at a nearby table. “It can’t be Addison Tolliver. I can’t picture you tolerating that laugh while he speaks pompously of his family’s heritage for who knows how many times in one night.”

 

Selina giggles.

 

Bruce continues and points to a tall and lanky man with the most ridiculous sideburns he’s ever seen. “Ainsley Redford. Often too self-aware but never enough to shave the forest growing on the side of his head.”

 

That makes her giggle again “Hmm, I prefer 5’ oclock’s shadows.” Selina purrs, pressing her cheek against his stubble.

 

“Exactly. I know you like facial hair but I can’t picture you putting on a smile for a while when your lips have touched that. And I know you like to smile.”

 

Now Bruce points to a pear shaped looking man with a top hat and a cigar in his mouth. Old century Londoner type of style about him. “It can’t be my uncle, Jacob Parson.”

 

“That’s your uncle?”

 

“Really good friend of my father’s so I’ve always called him my uncle.” Bruce explains. Selina nods understanding.

 

“It’s a wonder how he ever fit into courteous society Selina. I still to this day do not understand my father’s affection for him. He’s a funny guy at times but so crude. Often referring to women as desserts he’d like to sink his teeth into and saying it’s all they’re good for. Desserts for man to pick out and enjoy. I can’t imagine you’d like that.”

 

“I bet he’s also the type to say anything to get into a woman’s panties however. Probably the type to spout of what little he knows of feminism, whose go to line is probably, ‘Oh, I love strong woman.’” Selina sneered.

 

“Hm. But all the while he really detests the type.” Bruce added and then flipped her back around to face him. She let her arms dangle over his broad shoulders as they continued to sway, staring contently at each other.

 

“Just so you know, he’s not at all in the crowd. I’ve lost him somewhere.”

 

“Whoever he is, you can do better.”

 

“Don’t worry about me babe. I can look out for myself. I know what I’m doing.”

 

“Using people to your advantage like this isn’t right.”

 

“You use people to your advantage every night in that suit.”

 

“I’ll rephrase. Using innocent people to your advantage like this isn’t right.”

 

“Oh, you only assume they’re innocent. There are different types of crimes Bruce. Not just the ones that land you in Arkham.”

 

“Fair point.”

 

“Enough about that. What about you Bruce? What kind of sugar daddy are you?” She asks.

 

Her breath hitched when he smirked. She’s still taken by his looks every time they meet like this. Too bad most of their meetings are on rooftops and he has on that cowl hiding that gorgeous face. Bruce Wayne, in his late 30’s, still handsome and baring no signs of weariness on the outside. Yet.

 

He looks so good on the outside. But she knows that on the inside, he’s ill and hurting. A man can’t go through what he’s gone through and do what he does every night and not be. But if one didn’t know better they wouldn’t see that he’s got scars beyond the ones of the flesh.

 

Bruce conceals those scars very well. It’s all the more frustrating that he keeps doing it all to himself in knowing how bad it is for him. That frustration is why she can’t ever see herself keeping him all to herself. He’s too much. But when they meet like this; have these chats and he touches her in that way that makes her stomach stir and knees weaken, she remembers why she can’t quit him.

 

“I’m not a ‘sugar daddy’ type first and foremost.” Bruce laughs. He then furrows his brows and with a playful pout whispers, “Am I that old now that I’m giving off that vibe already?”

 

Selina smirks and pulls him in closer by his behind, “You’re definitely sending _a_ vibe of some sorts.”

 

She can feel a telltale bulge developing in his pants. “Is that a grapple gun in your pocket or are you…” her voice trails off and she bats her eyelashes, giving him a smile that finishes the rest of the sentence for her.

 

She opened her mouth to say something more but Bruce cut her off with a gentle finger on her red lips. The intensity of his arousal was growing. He can still smell Clark’s scent and needed a release that could not wait.

 

He lets Selina weave him through the crowd and guide him to a private bathroom without hesitation. This is how most of their meetings end these days. They have a chat and then she _wants_ him. Tonight, he doesn’t protest because he wants it too. No. He needs it.

 

Once they’re safely alone, he kisses her and feels her thinking of Clark. It’s not fair to Selina but, It’s becoming impossible not think about Clark and he didn’t want it any other way if he’s frank. He thinks of Clark sopping wet just for him, Clark running his fingers through his hair, Clark moaning his name, Clark biting his lip as he rolled his hips to his thrusts begging him for more, and Clark straining over him on his lap as he cried out he was about to cum. Clark.

 

 

* * *

 

 

In Clark’s head, Bruce was slipping the crown of his cock into his inviting hole, teasingly slow. Once buried all the way inside, Bruce went on to fuck the Omega, rocking and kissing his body lovingly, with a passion.

 

His fingers will never feel like the real thing would feel from Bruce, but that’s what the imaginations are for. Clark whined and slowed his insertions down. He longed to really get a sense of how Bruce’s grunts would sound like in the midst of their coupling, how gentle yet possessive the Alpha’s touch would be, and the lulling words he’d whisper to him until they both climaxed and slumped into each other’s arms, dozing off into a dreamless sleep.

 

These urgently horny moments always highlighted how much Clark wanted a good mate. For lack of someday getting the real thing, he at least had his own hands to help him through these heats.

 

Whimpering, Clark leaned back against the glass marble tiled, cool wall of the shower and decided he’d edged enough. In no time, he felt a more than familiar surge of heat build from his abdomen to eventually erupt and spill hot content down his inner thighs.  Clark moaned and convulsed all the way through to the last run of his cum. He stared down at the floor panting and watched as his mess got washed off and drained away by the water.

 

“oof!” He cried. Leaning back again, he had banged his head on the wall hard causing an illusory of an echo in his ears. 

 

Exhaustion and frailty stunned his senses to a magnified degree. That was probably his fifth or seventh orgasm today? Who’s keeping count? What mattered was that he was actually feeling his heat calm down for the first time today. The drugs presented to him by Alfred (not by Bruce as he expected) did little to keep it under control.

 

And thus after wolfing down a bowl of cereal and omelet prepared for him by Alfred this afternoon, he limped back upstairs to the master suite and into the shower to deal with his problem himself. Alfred didn’t even think to question his feverish state. He knew exactly what the Omega was going through and gave him his space.

 

As Clark stepped out to towel off, he dreaded looking at the clock. He had no idea how long he’d been pleasuring himself in the shower and had lost track of time. Almost 10PM! He’s been at his for three hours!? The longest he’s done that, was a mere half hour or hour but now he’s beaten that record by two hours!? On the first day much less. It's only going to get worse...

 

“God, what’s happening to me?” Clark wondered.

 

He dropped his eyes, shaking his head in confusion and downright fear. Why is this particular heat so much more aggressive than the other ones he’s gone through? And what the hell was the source of his sudden, supernatural attraction to Bruce? The man is very good looking, no doubt there. Arguably the most attractive man Clark has ever laid eyes on, but that’s not enough to explain the uncanny pull he had to this Alpha.

 

In times like these, he would call Lois or visit her at her apartment for consolation. He should probably give Lois a call. He hasn’t heard her voice in some time. And if he knows her well, she has already caught on to the fact that he ran into some distress; that his half-systematized and introspective tour of anywhere (which took him beyond the small peaceful farming community he grew up around) led to him finding trouble instead.

 

Clark doesn’t like to blame himself for his situation but it’s gnawing at him that some of it is his fault. After the death of his father, he didn’t have to mellow his sorrow by leaving his mother at the farm to travel. He didn’t have to go from mild-mannered Kansas raised farm boy and Daily Planet bound reporter to helplessly, kidnapped at gunpoint and Omega sex slave.

 

Clark stood in the bathroom still, towel over his shoulders feeling hollow and numb. There are some miracles to his misfortunes so he could have met a worse predicament. The first of his miracles was that, in his days as a sex slave, no one claimed him or made a bid for him. Clark thought it was probably to do with the fact that he was older, 26, and the Alphas liked their Omegas young.

 

But the real reason was because he couldn’t yet become pregnant with the birth control still in his system. For reasons he did not want to know, the Alphas preferred that their Omegas could give them kids. So, he was basically on standby until his heat came back signifying that he could conceive again. However, despite that miracle of not being desirable for the time being, the Alphas in charge of running the organization took quite the liking to him. 

 

On several occasions, he was almost raped by a lot of them. They would do this to other Omegas in the camp. Gang up on the Omegas and rape them without knotting so that no bonds were created and the Omegas could still remain “fresh”.

 

The other miracle came about during his struggle to avoid these assaults. Somehow, he was able to fight them off. All of them. Every attempt. Perhaps there was a higher being out there looking out for him. Who knows? The scars and bruises serve as bittersweet reminders of his surviving such horrors.

 

But now he’s free and still feels like he’s fighting. His stomach churns every time he thinks of the other Omegas still suffering through those horrors. He knows not who’s in charge of this atrocity or the scale of it. But he knows his fight wasn’t over. He couldn’t stand by knowing what was happening in the underground and not do anything about it. When he gets back to Metropolis, he knows exactly what the first of his investigative reports would be over.

 

Lex. The name suddenly popped up in his head suddenly. His one obstacle to getting back to his normal life. Lex. An obstacle but an ironic one at that. Ironic because Lex bought Cark from an auction to “rescue” him. At least that's what his excuse was to get Clark to accept him as some kind of hero. 

 

This auction took place somewhere in Kansas, Clark can’t recall the city.  But what he can clearly recall was being absolutely insulted and appalled that Lex participated in such inhuman recreations. But that despite feeling that way, he wasn’t surprised.

 

Lex really believed that Clark would genuinely feel lucky and happy that he was buying his freedom. He even called him a frail and silly of a minded person for denying his proposals to claim and mate so that he wouldn’t find himself in the quandary.

 

Any time an Alpha successfully bought an Omega of their desire, they were allowed one night with their Omegas. This night was dubbed a, “Preview” because it would be the first time the Alphas got to be with their Omegas before the Omegas would be “shipped” to them on any day they desired after they paid of course. The preview nights took place at the slave camps. One could guess what went on those nights easily.

 

On Clark’s and Lex’s preview night was where Lex tried to make the case that it was again fate that had brought him to Clark. And that Clark was failing their fate and right to be together.  It was a wonder Lex didn’t try to do anything with him that night. His obsession with Clark bordered on psychotic. A sick fixation that originated in high school to be precise. 

 

Because Lex had anxiety issues in school, he was an outcast. The students made fun of his nervousness and his bizarre ticks starting in middle school. Ticks he couldn’t help.  The guy literally had no friends and being that he was the child of wealthy parents, no one at a Smallville high school (a school largely attended by working farmer’s kids) had any sympathy for him. Until Clark had something to do about that.

 

Lois, always Lois, warned him about getting too friendly with Lex but he pushed her warnings aside and befriended the weird rich kid anyway.  Ever since he could remember, he’s always befriended the little guy or the outcast and has always been kind and sensitive to everyone and anyone. To him, it was all natural. His mother used to give him the nickname of “The Jesus of Smallville” because of how absurdly nice he was to its populaces for absolutely nothing in return.

 

One day, after gym, Lex was balling away in the locker room alone, after suffering a berating of bullying from the other students. Clark walked into this scene and saw Lex sitting in a ball like a lost dog. When Lex lifted his head up to find Clark frowning with hurt, he had those crying puppy eyes which gave Clark no choice, but to surrender, and wrap the lonely guy in his arms. From that day on, their friendship blossomed and while Lex was a weirdo, Clark still liked his eccentric ways and really had no reason to feel uncomfortable around him as the other kids.

 

That was until Lex found out he was an Omega. Even while Lex had witnessed Clark going in heat in middle school, he knew not of male Omegas then, and thought nothing of it. As far as he was concerned, they were a myth. After that incident and going into high school, Clark took birth control pills which in turn ceased his heats. While on them, his Omega scent wasn’t as strong too and it was often that people mistook him for an Alpha simply because of his fit physique and of course didn’t go in heat.

 

As he remembers, the conversation happened like this.

_“You’re an Omega?” Lex had asked with wonder in his gaze._

_“Yes.” Clark answered. They were at lunch in the cafeteria. Lois was seated to his right, Lex across from him, and Jimmy who usually sat across from Clark was absent that day with the flu._

_“So the rumors are true?” Lex whispered. It was a question but sounded like a statement instead._

_“Come on Lex. We hang out a lot. You must’ve smelled me before.” Clark had muttered after taking a sip of his chocolate milk.  He was already sensing that the conversation was going to go down south, fast._

_Lex looked over to Lois, “You knew?” He asked her._

_Lois hesitated before answering. She has been so caught up in listening to the conversation that she was caught off guard for being thrown into it now._

_“Yes. I knew. Why the fuck are you making it out to be this bigger than life revelation weirdo?” She snapped. Clark gave her a look and she apologized to Lex begrudgingly._

_Clark opened his mouth to speak but Lex had more to say. "You were in heat in middle school..." He remembered._

_“Why don’t you ever go in heat now?” the Alpha asked._

_Okay, this was getting more personal than Clark wanted it to be._

_“I’m on birth control Lex. I don’t have them while I’m taking the pills.” Clark slurped the last of his chocolate milk down and stood to go put up his tray. A hand stopped him. Lex looked at him and pleaded that he sit back down._

_Growing slightly annoyed, Clark sat back down and gestured he was all ears for more of what Lex wanted to know about him being an Omega. Clark always hated it when people made such a big deal of his status. He was the only Omega in this high school of 500 students and he wanted to blend in as an Alpha or Beta for the time being. He was of a rare breed; a breed which was often looked at as the lowest of society. Trash. So no, he didn’t really like to make a big deal of his being an Omega. He didn’t need the disrespect._

_“But I-I, I’ve always admired you.” Lex admitted to Clark. “You’re fit, good-looking, not to mention intelligent.”_

_Clark smiled at the compliments. But why did Lex utilize the past tense of “admire”?_

_“Yes, Omegas can be those things Lex.” He said almost in defense._

_“But Omegas are biologically weak. They go in heat for the sole purpose of attracting an Alpha mate that can take care of them but you…”  Lex’s voice trailed off and he cocked his head at Clark. As if he was studying a rare and exotic specimen._

_Lois was ready to rip Lex’s head off for those comments but again Clark calmed her fury. He was getting angry himself but he was patient._

_“I don’t think my sole purpose is to find a mate_”_

_Lex interrupted. “It isn’t just a purpose. It’s what you’re meant to do. Your role in intelligent society. And you’re breaking the natural balance of reality by denying your part in it. This is why there are staring to be a few of your kind. Evolution, human advancement, does not favor the weak and especially does not favor those that don’t take part in the nature of reality.”_

There was silence, and then Lois let out a long sigh. Clark understood the tone of the sigh. It was a sigh of impatience, annoyance, and partly I-told-you-so-this-guy-was-weird-Clark.

Clark glared at Lex and before he could do to him what Lois has been wanted to do all lunch, he stood up and put his tray away. Lois followed.

 

After that conversation, their relationship definitely didn’t get better. Lex didn’t apologize to Clark for his bigoted and hurtful remarks, no. Instead, he doubled down on them.  He treated Clark with less respect and even started to make approaches on him.

 

He continuously harassed Clark, telling the Omega that he belonged to him and threatened, yes threatened because Clark did not want it, to mate him. Lex thought Clark should’ve been honored that an Alpha of his status offered to mate him. He would tell Clark that the Omega could have anything he wanted if Lex claimed him.

 

Clark refused his request of course and certainly did not feel honored. There was a growing latent evilness about Lex as time went on. Clark sensed it. The crying, quirky, and funny guy he befriended in the locker room once upon a time was no more.

 

The source of that growing evilness was soon realized when he went to College. University of Metropolis. It was located in the district of Metropolis and was the city’s most prestigious school. Clark was not surprised to see that a man of Lex’s intelligence was attending it also.

 

He hadn’t seen Lex in a year and the man had changed! Boy did he change. He was bigger than his scrawny and twitchy high school self, his hair was no longer just a long mess but was now styled with the middle parted and the sides back and sides shaved, and his style was less eccentric and more posh frat boy.

 

Clark couldn’t deny he had gotten very attractive but he wasn’t that shallow. He knew Lex was still the same on the inside. And Lois was there to always tell him so also. He avoided him at school and succeeded for two semesters until Lex ran into one day in the library and he just couldn’t get out of talking to him.

 

Lex was so excited to see him and acted as though their fallout never happened. He was really nice and chatty the entire time that Clark almost forgot about their fallout too. When Lex invited him to a frat party he was throwing that night however, Clark had to bring up the elephant in the room.

 

_“I’m an Omega remember. I’m not going to a party full of drunk and obnoxious Alpha frat brothers.” Clark had said. It was as if his inner Lois Lane was awakened with how snappy he was._

_“That’s a stereotype Clark. We’re very reserved and I’m sorry about the things I said to you in high school. That was high school so let’s keep it there.”_

 

It’s a shame that that was all it took for Clark to say yes but that was indeed all it took. He accepted the invitation with the request that he bring Lois along of course. The party was nice 80’s themed fete and lively. Friends laughing and talking together, nostalgic 80’s pop music, and open bars but with a limited amount of drinks served to avoid drunks. Clark loved that there were other Omegas in attendance and he took to befriending them immediately. It’s not every day one finds them.

 

Later into the night, he lost Lois in the bustle of it all and found Lex. They immediately got lost in a conversation in which Lex did all the right things, and told Clark all the right things as well. His tactics made Clark loosen up with him so much so that, he accepted Lex’s invite that they continue their chat at his dorm room.

 

There, they talked about their majors, what they wanted to do after college, and the usual subjects any college student finds themselves mouthing of about. It was when the conversation went to the subject of family that their friendly chit chat became a hostile one. Clark mentioned he was thinking about quitting on his birth control pills because he wanted to have kids some days down the line.

 

It seemed something triggered in Lex when Clark mentioned that small uneventful bit. After Clark mentioned it, Lex interrupted him and leaned in to try and kiss him. Clark rejected him. It was so sudden and absolutely not welcomed. The night may have been similar to one’s of an 80’s romance but it certainly wasn’t. Expecting an apology from Lex, Clark was surprised to see Lex lean in for another kiss.

 

_“I don’t want it Lex.” Clark had said._

_“What do you mean?” Lex asked. He sounded insulted._

_“I mean I don’t want it.” Clark had stated with staunch finality._

 

He immediately regretted coming to the room and had heard too many stories of where situations like this one escalated to. And so, he requested to leave. He requested to leave but Lex didn’t acknowledge it. What happened after that always sends shivers down Clark’s spine.  

 

Lex  went on a tangent about how Omegas existed for Alphas. That Omegas were meant for them.  That Alphas had the right to them. And once again that Clark was acting stupid for continuing to deny him.

 

_“I can give you everything you’d want and need.” Lex yelled._

_“I don’t care about your money for the last time! Maybe if you were more considerate and didn’t treat me like an object or an amendment, I might consider you. ‘The right to them’ Lex? Really? Do you hear yourself? Omegas aren’t flesh and blood with feelings and choices to you?” Clark yelled back._

 

The night was awful. He should have known not to have been so gullible in thinking Lex had actually changed. He was still as bigoted as ever and Clark did not understand why the Alpha specifically wanted to mate him. There were plenty of Omegas he could mate.

 

_“You’re a special kind of Omega Clark and you’re making a grave mistake by denying me. The offspring we would produce. We could actually birth Omegas who are effective in society for once with our genes.” Lex had spewed._

 

It was a completely malade comment to Clark. So Lex was interested in him because of some delusional thought that they could produce Omegas who were as productive as Alphas? The man sounded like a mad scientist.

 

_“Newsflash Lex, Omegas as such already exist and if society stopped thinking bigotedly like you, they wouldn’t be discriminated against and discouraged from achieving everything Alphas can. We’re not here to just fuck Alphas and pop babies out! Those are not our sole capabilities!” Clark screamed._

He doesn’t lose his cool regularly but that night, he was almost in tears with rage and hurt. Not all Alphas were like Lex, he knew that. But the Alphas who were like Lex were the ones who unfortunately were at the very top and therefore had a lot of influence on society and he hated that reality.

 

In a huff, Clark went for the door again and that’s when Lex pounced on him. The Alpha got so manic and started to tear at his clothes. Clark knew full well what Lex’s intentions were but it was too late. He clawed and scratched at the Alpha screaming for him to get off but Lex was very strong; animalistic and determined to get what he wanted from Clark.

 

Clark was scared of him for the first time in their friendship and in turn his fear weakened him. Lex was violently kissing and biting his lips him to stop his screams and pinned Clark down to his bed. In the same motion, the Alpha tied Clark’s arms behind his back firmly with a belt. He did it so fast and with such finesse skill, that Clark wondered if he had practiced it before for this very moment.  After Lex had Clark’s arm’s trapped behind his back, he turned the Omega on his back and proceeded to force his thighs apart.

 

Clark had never been so terrified in his life then. So vulnerable, weak, and helpless. That was how Lex wanted him. How he believed Clark should be naturally. He remembers sobbing and begging Lex to stop as the Alpha fingered him to moisten his entry . Clark hated every second of the assault and recalls how repulsed he was by Lex’s scent. His body and mind were in agreement over not wanting to be mated by Lex.

 

At the last minute, the adrenaline that gripped him as Lex tried to rape him was ethereal and ended up saving his life. As he was quaking and sobbing under Lex’s weight, he miraculously was able to muster enough power to kick his right leg at Lex. The kick nearly broke the Alpha’s hip and the scream and curses Lex let out after it, still resonate in Clark’s ears years later. 

 

After fighting Lex off, Clark shaking and sobbing, freed his arms from their bounds and put his pants back on to run out of the dorm. He didn’t know where he was running to but he was glad that he managed to run into Lois outside on campus. She wasted no time in holding him in her arms trying to soothe him and kept asking him what had happened, where he had been, over and over…

 

When he told her what had happened, she was expectedly furious but Clark begged her not to make a huge deal of it. He didn’t want the school, police, or hospitals involved. Especially when most of the time, Omegas were the ones who would be blamed for their rapes.

 

He continued to study at the university but was much more striving to be invisible. Eventually Lois coaxed him enough to tell the school about what Lex did and after some time, he finally did. But because of Lex’s prestige, he only got the sentence of a suspension and nothing more. There were a couple of Alphas in his frat who didn’t take to the slap on the wrist punishment well and campaigned to get Lex the sentence he deserved but that was unsuccessful. A very nice gesture nonetheless which had restored Clark’s faith in Alphas.

 

Clark was fine with it all though. So long as Lex wasn’t around him, he felt safe. Pete Ross, was an Alpha that especially was protective of Clark once he befriended him after the incident. Obviously, Clark took a liking to him. He was cute, nice, and smart. All the boxes were checked with him. Sadly, Clark later found out he was taken and was gutted. All the good Alphas were taken.

 

As he faded out of his reveries, Clark’s mind went back to Bruce. He was sure they couldn’t ignore each other for a full week. What will happen to him when he sees Bruce again? This particular heat has rendered his actions so unpredictable that he’s afraid of what might happen. He doesn’t want to irritate Bruce further. If just thinking of Bruce forced him into a three hour session of self-satisfaction, what in the world would seeing Bruce, or touching him do to him?

 

Out of pure panic, Clark exited the bathroom, dressed, and took more of the pills he left on the nightstand. He didn’t think about it, he just threw two in his mouth and gulped down a glass of water. He had no idea whether doubling the dose would work or not, but for the time being, the placebo effect would keep up his false hopes.

 

His unnatural craving for the older man was a bizarre one. A craving which Bruce didn’t seem to share for Clark unfortunately.

 

“He’d really make a good mate.” Clark mumbled out loud.

 

He chuckled to himself for a moment, nuzzling his face into the sheets. His bad luck with Alphas was unbelievable. Sometimes all one can do is laugh at their misfortunes.

 

 

* * *

 

 

Having finally gotten his heat under tolerable control, Clark decided to get himself out of the master suite and explore other areas of the manor in the meantime. He's mostly doing it as a way to distract him from his woeful thoughts. Now that his mind was clear and no longer the mind of a needy nympho, it whisked him into depressing thoughts and those thoughts definitely weren't better. 

 

Today, he learned from Alfred that the manor wasn’t the only residence Bruce owned. The older man also had a lake house, freshly built, just a few miles off the property. When Clark had been wondering where Alfred would disappear to, the butler had been at the lake house. Responsible for keeping it lived in and clean.

 

When Clark asked Alfred whether Bruce planned to move there permanently, he only answered with an exhausted sigh and said Bruce had become too difficult for him to read lately. And that his only job now was just to keep Bruce as happy as possible. He also jokingly added (Clark thinks), “As well as trying to get him to grow up a little.”

 

Clark made his way down the spiral staircase all set to explore the other parts of the empty manor. He found it a little flatering that Alfred trusted him alone here. Although the place was very eerie this late at night, there was something wondrous about it too, that drove Clark to want to see more of it.

 

The first place Clark decided to survey was the study room. The room was a wonderful, decorative mess that peaked his curiosity. There were papers scattered all about a medium study table in the middle of the room, the bookshelf looked heavy and full with modern to old books, and the grandfather clock flattered the vintage look of it all. There was only one chair in the room which had Clark settle that this was where Bruce privately tended to his business. He probably shouldn’t be here without an invitation then...

 

Clark took a step back, causing the floorboard to creak beneath him. The creaking augmented the sense of insufferable wornness about the look of the room. He decided that this was probably the oldest room in the manor. The only thing that gave the room a modern twist, were the glass windows displaying the view of the balcony outside.

 

Clark stared upon the view before him and wondered at the landscape. The way the clouds hung low behind the waving branches of the dead trees however, sent shivers down his spine. And was that a bat that just flew by?! Combined with the gripping awareness that he was home alone, the view now became ominous and Clark quickly closed the drapes shivering.

 

He was on his way out of the study room when the bookshelf caught his attention again. The contents on the shelf fascinated him and he couldn’t help but be drawn to it. Given that he felt pretty bored, he thought to look at some books. It’s just books. It’s not too snoopy right? It also wouldn’t hurt to see what kind of literature Bruce indulged himself in.

 

A dusty, big book, positioned flat on the top shelf landed his attention first. It was just begging to be read. Clark picked it up carefully and a cartoonish amount of dust forced him into a mini sneezing fit.

 

“Jesus, when was the last time this shelf got dusted?” He muttered out loud, swatting dust away from his face.

 

After coughing and clearing his throat free of dust, he found a spot on the floor to sit on and proceeded to wipe the cover of the book clean. There was no title anywhere on the front or back cover of the book to his surprise. Even when he checked the seam, he still couldn’t make out an author’s name much less any traces of letters. The cover was simply entirely black and rigid with a few cracks. He opened the book, this time bracing himself for another cloud of dust.  

 

It was a photo album. Even better. Catching a few glimpses of a baby Bruce and his youthful parents, a smile crept on Clark’s face. Bruce was an adorable baby. He resembled most like his mom as an infant.

 

As Clark turned the pages of the album, he came across a photo of Bruce, maybe at the age of seven or eight, with the most hideous haircut he’s ever seen on a child. It started low in his guts but soon Clark was laughing out loud. Bruce looked drastically different from this photo now (which he should) but hideous haircut aside, he was still a cute kid.

 

His laughs became tiny giggles as the turned the page to look at more family photos of the Waynes. The Waynes with family friends. Little Bruce with a friend, and a photo of Bruce sitting on his mother’s lap as she appeared to be reading a book to him. When he turned the page again, there were no more photos. He turned the page again and again and again until he accepted that was the last of them.

 

The album ended with that photo Bruce and his mother. Clark went blue when he realized why. He may have never met the man head on until a day ago but he knew his story. He knew about Bruce losing his mother and father to a mugger at a young age.

 

Clark kept turning the pages, solemnly staring at the ongoing emptiness until the end of the book was reached.  

 

“Seen enough?”

 

Clark jumped, screaming in the most feminine manner he’s ever screamed. In his head, he could hear Lois laughing at him as she usually did when he screamed like that.

 

How long had Bruce been standing there? Watching him? The Alpha was wearing a white chemise, a loosened bowtie, and simple black dress pants. The cuffs of the chemise were rolled up to the elbows on his crossed arms, revealing an expensive Rolex watch on his right wrist.  Clark had bad vision but his sharp hearing couldn’t have let him miss the man’s footsteps on these noisy floorboards.

 

“I’m so sorry. I’ll get out of your space.” Clark apologizes, closing the book.

 

His hands are trembling as he is still shaken. As if he needed to give Bruce more reasons to be angry with him. He’s ready to scurry out of Bruce’s way when the Alpha stops him from leaving, with a gentle tone.

 

“Don’t apologize. And you don’t have to leave. You can keep looking at that.” Bruce says in a low voice. He took off his shoes and walked into the room joining Clark on the floor. The room grew suddenly very hot for the Omega now. The jitters of sitting across from the person he’s been masturbating to all day, were rendering him a shameful nervy wreck.

 

“H-how long have you been standing there?” Clark mumbles the question, looking down at his palm nervously.

 

Clark doesn’t dare to look up at the handsome face. This is high school level of butterflies-in-the-stomach nerves all over again. The type one gets when their crush finally notices them. Hell, with his heat now in under some control, he could no longer wonder if he really did like Bruce.

 

“Long enough to see you laughing at something.” Bruce answers. He’s bowing his head down to try to get the shy Clark to look at him. “What was so funny?”

 

Realizing he could no longer keep avoiding his gaze, Clark finally looks at Bruce and his heart skips a beat. Time slows down in that moment of only a second of silence which feels like an eternity to Clark. Bruce smiles at Clark and the Omega timidly responds to it by lowering his head again.

 

Now Clark’s trying his best not to steal any more glances of Bruce’s naked chest peeking through his chemise. He swallowed nervously. It was as if after today, he was meeting Bruce for the first time again.

 

“Clark?” Bruce says his name with concern. He waited for him to answer.

 

 _Oh, yea, he asked me a question!_ Clark produced more spit to assuage his cotton mouth and brought his attentions back to the photo album, “It was just this.” He flips through the book and points to the photo of Bruce with a friend of his, sporting the hideous bowl cut in question.

 

Bruce chuckles breathily. “Is it the haircut?”

 

“I’m sorry. But it’s bad.” Clark giggles.

 

He’s being flirty again but it’s better than being mute. The fact that Bruce was making small talk with him helped. Maybe he had been overreacting thinking Bruce practically hated him now.

 

“Late 70’s, early 80’s…Every kid had that haircut.” Bruce defends his coif giving Clark a smirk that nearly impregnates him.

 

“That’s a classic excuse. But I can’t blame you for it. You had no say in it.” Clark says casually. He pats himself on the back for not becoming a stuttering idiot after that smirk.

 

“How do you know that?” Bruce snickered and crossed his arms attentively.

 

Clark bit his lip for a moment and blushingly replied, “Well, your hair now looks a lot nicer and I’m guessing you’re the stylist. It doesn't matter. You were still a cute kid.”

 

“Am I still cute now?” Bruce asked, raising a frisky eyebrow.

 

Clark’s heart started racing. He didn't see the response coming at all.  _Yes, you're still cute!  God you're hot, and all day I've been fantasizing about running my fingers through your hair while you're fucking my brains out!_ Clark looked away from Bruce, afraid that the Alpha might have read his dirty thoughts.

 

"Not as cute as back then, but you're okay.” Clark joked as nonchalantly as he could. That got a small laugh out of the Alpha.

 

Bruce took the album out of Clark’s hand and smiled at the photo of he and Harvey Dent. Both at the age of eight. He hadn’t looked at this book in years and the photos were bringing about a type of joy he hasn’t felt since…he can’t remember how long. His avoidance of this photo album was rooted in the fear that it would only bring him more pain to look at what he’s lost. He was wrong on that note.

 

Clark watched Bruce quietly flip through the album until he too reached the end of it. The older man sighed and ran his thumb over the last picture a few times. He stared at it until his vision blurred and a tear marked the page.

 

Clark thought to pull Bruce into a hug, merely on pure instincts. He didn’t do so however, instead, he just put a comforting hand over Bruce’s own.

 

“I’m sorry Bruce.” He says sadly. Having lost a parent, much less both, Clark still felt Bruce’s pain profoundly.  

 

“I still have the book she’s reading to me here.” Bruce sighs. He moved his hand away under Clark’s to wipe his remaining tears. It’s not often he got teary eyed but in this occasion, he couldn’t be keep it in.

 

Clark moved so that he was seated next to Bruce rather than across him. He squinted at the photo trying to make out the title of the book Martha Wayne was holding.  To a person with normal eyesight, the letters on the book could probably be easily deciphered, but to Clark it was all a blur without his glasses.

 

“I can’t read what the title says.” Clark narrowed his eyes some more. He could make out the letter ‘A’ and that was about it.

 

Creases of confusion show themselves on Bruce’s forehead. “It’s _Alice in Wonderland_. You can’t see the ‘Alice’ in the title? It’s in big letters.”

 

Clark shakes his head, frowning. “No, I can’t see that without my glasses.”

 

“You wear glasses? Prescription glasses?” Bruce asks as he closed the book, pushing it aside.

 

“Yea, they were taken away from me though.” Clark answers under his breath.

 

He hadn’t paid attention to their close proximity when he lifted his head up again. When he did, he leaned in in happenstance and bumped foreheads with Bruce in the process, on accident.

 

Another apology is on its way to escape Clark’s lips when the unpredictable happens. Rather that Bruce let him pull his head away to give him his space; Bruce instead pulled him in by the chin, and softly kissed him.  

 

There was no tongue or even the clanking of teeth. It was just a warm press of soft lips upon another pair of soft lips. A quick smooch and then it was over.

 

Clark was sure he dreamt the moment and he hasn’t blinked since. Hasn’t breathed since. That was his first genuine kiss! He licked his lips unconsciously and immediately, tingles journeyed up his spine and throughout the rest of the body.

 

“That was not okay.” Bruce said with mortification in his voice. Clark remained stunned silent and Bruce wanted him to say something. Anything. 

 

Even with his usual pretense of flirtatious smoothness at Galas, Bruce never pulls a move like that right on the spot. There’s no explaining what took over him to prompt him to kiss the Omega so suddenly. It was a move influenced by more than just the pull of the scent. His scent which wasn’t even as strong as it was before.  

 

After some time Clark vocalized again. “Ss… okay.” He squeaked, incompletely meaning to say, ‘it’s okay.'

 

Yes, that was definitely a squeak. High pitched and all. Breathe Clark, he repeated continuously in his head. Bruce was saying something to him but he wasn’t listening. He couldn’t hear a word over the drumming melody of his heart.

 

Approaching footsteps came their way cutting the tension. “Master Wayne, I apologize if I’ve interrupted…” Alfred paused at the doorway for a moment, judging the undeniably intimate scene before him. “…something. Shall I prepare dinner for tonight or is it too late?”

 

Bruce unbuttoned his chemise a tad and cleared his throat, “That’s alright Alfred. We’ll cope for the night.” he answered hoarsely.

 

The butler nodded and left after flashing a quick wink to Bruce. Bruce grimaced, blushing subtly and prepared to explain himself to Clark.

 

“Clark I_” He started to say.

 

However, the Omega panicked and interrupted Bruce by blurting out the question, “D-do you like cookies?”

 

He didn’t want to hear Bruce tell him the kiss was a mistake or something similar along those lines. He'd rather it be ignored than acknowledged as something that shouldn't have happened because Clark was absolutely over the moon that it happened.

 

 _Do you like cookies? Smooth Clark._ He wished he could have disappeared down through the floorboard like a ghost.

 

Bruce furrowed his brows and muttered, “I suppose I do.”

 

Clark stands up, stammering with a fidgeting leg, “G-great! I’m going to g-go and bake some! For us. Th-that can be a g-good s-snack right?”

 

Bruce opened his mouth to answer but didn’t bother as Clark was already out of the room and out of sight.

 

Clark was shattering with embarrassment and nerves and tingles and...God, Bruce kissed him! He prayed to all the divinities that when he walked into the kitchen, he would find all of the ingredients he needed for his extemporaneous promise of baked cookies. What a day. He pinched himself just in case he was stuck in some reverie. 

 

“Ow!”

 

Nope. Not a dream.

                                                                                                                                    


	5. Communicate

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lex is on the hunt for Clark. Bruce gets bad news.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry if this update took long!!

“I want the Omega found and brought to me or there will be consequences.” Lex said.

 

He made it an issue to annunciate each word with malevolence as he spoke into the phone. Mercy remained as still as a Guard’s Regiment of the Queen’s holding the phone to Luthor’s scowled lips. The comparison wasn’t so far-fetched as at times, Lex Luthor acted and often commanded his workers treat him like the Queen.

 

The voice on the other line replied, “This isn’t the way we go about our business Luthor. We specifically told you that after the Preview Night, you would pay up the sum for your Omega despite any unforeseen circumstances occurring after the purchase.”

 

Luthor’s jaws clenched along with his fists, “The unforeseen circumstance could have been foreseen. It happened on your watch and it is up to you to find the Omega…”

 

His voice trailed off and he quietly motioned for Mercy to pop a cherry Jollyrancher in his mouth. She reaches into the extravagant candy filled bowl set on a small glass table next to Luthor’s velvet throne chair, and pops his desired flavor into his mouth. The Alpha on the other line waited for Lex to speak once more with forced patience.

 

Sucking loudly on the red candy, Luthor continued and said, “Find the Omega if you want to even do anything with the money I’ve paid you. You have three days. And I’m counting down the hours, minutes, seconds…Clark will be brought back to me before time runs out or…”

 

Lex paused again and smiled, “Well, will we have problems. Up. Here.”

 

He bit down on the hard candy with decadence. The crackling sound of his teeth meeting the tough candy was not missed by the Alpha on the other line.

 

The man paused making a sound as if he wanted to get something out. A threat. He wanted to challenge Luthor once again but what was the point of challenging one of Forbe’s top three billionaires in the world? The organization needed his kind of money and they needed to keep their business too.

 

“Very well. We’ll keep on our search in Gotham. We’ve only got one, albeit extraordinary lead. The Batman. He’s the one that infiltrated the ring in Gotham. We found that he’s ran into Clark but…”

 

Luthor snarled, “But what?”

 

The man hesitated for a bit but went on, “He’s…He’s beyond us. When he attacked us, we didn’t even know what had hit us. It was inhuman.”

 

“Don’t tell me you’re scared of some guy in a suit.” Luthor chuckled.

 

“It can’t be just a man in a suit! You didn’t see him…uh…How any one man can move the way he did and do the things he did so efficiently is beyond me. He didn’t kill us that night but he might if he sees us again; the ones who were lucky enough to make an escape while posing as the Omegas.”

 

“And what,” Luthor began, “makes you think _, I_ won’t kill you myself if you don’t find Clark?”

 

There was a pause. A nervous clear of the throat and then a half confident promise, “We’ll find him Mr.Luthor.”

 

Lex smiled, “Good. That’s what I liked to hear. I may even aid you a little in this search.”

 

And without saying goodbye or letting the man on the other end respond to his cryptic message, he motioned for Mercy to click ‘end’ and finish the call. Mercy held the phone in her hand and stood by Lex waiting for the next order.

 

“Mercy.”

 

“Sir.”

 

“You know I don’t trust those idiots.” He turned his head and looked up at her.

 

“That was apparent sir.” She replied, knowing exactly where Lex was going.

 

“Let’s aid them in the search. Give them a push to the Batman. You know what to do.”

 

“Yes sir.”

 

* * *

 

 

Last night, Bruce learned that the Omega wanted to bake chocolate chip cookies _from scratch_ at that late of an hour. Given it had been a long day for the both of them, he insisted Clark get some sleep instead and bake them tomorrow. Clark didn’t argue with the suggestion and avoided eye contact as he went upstairs to the bedroom.

 

While there, he still couldn’t get over the kiss and as expected it was the subject of his dream that night. Where that dream led however, is too scandalous to gloss over.

 

It was exactly 8 am on the dot when Clark woke up the next morning. Last night’s events were still being replayed in his head and something nudged the thought that it had indeed all been a dream. But it was all too real. Too vivid to be a dream. What happened last night was real. Thinking of Bruce again, Clark was reminded to take his pills and did so before he washed up, changed, and scampered downstairs into the kitchen.

 

“Wow.” He sighed smiling as he stood alone in the kitchen and admired it all fully.

 

Standing here made him feel almost at home for a bit. But not in the sense that the kitchen reminded him of the one he had in his apartment back in Metropolis or the one at the farm. Oh no. This kitchen was bigger than his entire apartment maybe and made him feel almost at home, because of its cozy design.

 

From its radiant and barrel-arched ceiling to the adjacent breakfast area, the orange-red to gold colors of the French Gothic architecture, combined with the cluttered greenish-black hints that did the most to add a homey and comforting feel to it.

 

He immediately decided if he had a family of his own, he would want the kitchen of his house to have a similar design. After beaming at the clean kitchen like some mom who’s found the kitchen of her dream on a new house visit, he went on a scavenger hunt to look for the needed ingredients. He tried to be as quiet as possible while he opened random cabinets and found some flour, brown sugar, baking soda, salt, and even some chopped nuts.

 

One by one, he was finding everything he needed. As if Bruce Wayne knew of his mother’s recipe for chocolate chip cookies. He giggled quietly at the thought and found the fridge. Opening up its massive French door, he retrieved the last of his ingredients. Butter and eggs.  He placed them on the kitchen island with the rest of the ingredients and thought of what he was missing.

 

“Measuring cups.” He muttered to himself and searched for them as well.

 

After some time, he found them but well out of his reach in one of the cupboards. He didn’t want to climb the counter to get them nor use a chair. Instead he decided he would utilize his flexibility and reach for them.

 

Bruce came into the kitchen and saw Clark struggle to reach the measuring cups from the glass cupboard. To say that the sight distracted Bruce would be an understatement. Clark was fully on his tippy toes, producing small grunts as his arm stretched out to barely reach what he needed, and rather than help him, Bruce was stealing glances of his bottom, thighs, calves…

 

It wasn’t right but Bruce was only a man and he couldn’t deny Clark was very attractive. After he’d ogled enough at the Omega, he accidently startled him from behind by getting the measuring cups down for him with no problem.

 

When Clark realized it was Bruce that scared him, he turned around to look at him and blushed, “Oh Gosh. Bruce you have to make your presence known.” He said laughing nervously. He put a hand to his chest as if it would calm his beating heart.  

 

Bruce smiled apologetically, “Sorry. Force of habit.”

 

Clark nodded and as he watched Bruce get more measuring cups down for him, he felt envious of the Alpha’s height. After he had retrieved everything Clark wanted, Bruce sighed, masking actually taking in a whiff of Clark’s sweet, _sweet_ , alluring aroma. Clark looked up to him, fidgeting nervously as the Alpha still trapped him against the counter.

 

Despite doubling his dose of the heat suppressant pills, Clark felt himself heating up again. It didn’t help that Bruce was wearing a tight sleeping shirt, which did nothing but highlight the muscles of his toned, upper body.

 

“Thanks for getting those down for me.” Clark thanked him finally.  

 

He didn’t want to be upfront about needing Bruce out of his way. He actually enjoyed him this close. But he also really wanted to make cookies.

 

Fighting against his instincts, Bruce sighed again and said, “Right. You’re welcome.” He then moved out of Clark’s way to let him pass.

 

Clark immediately got busy to measuring and mixing the sugars, butter, vanilla and eggs in large bowl. Bruce watched him intently, almost as if it were an Opera show going on in front of him.

 

“This might sound like a dumb question but are you allergic to nuts?” Clark asked from out of the blue.

 

Bruce shook his head and answered, “No, but…”

 

He stopped. He was going to say that Jason was but that would bring on way too many questions from Clark that he didn’t feel like answering.

 

Clark patiently waited for him for finish his thought. “But…what?”

 

“Nothing. I’m not allergic to nuts.” Bruce answered with a definitiveness that Clark didn’t dare question.

 

The Alpha walked over to the counter, sitting in one of the chairs and began, “Look Clark. About last night…”

 

Clark’s heart immediately started racing. He knew the talk about their kiss was going to happen sooner or later. And again, he didn’t want to hear Bruce say it was some happenstance. But he couldn’t get away this time, so he motioned to Bruce that he was all ears but didn’t look up to meet his eyes.

 

As Bruce started, “That kiss_”

 

“Master Wayne.” Alfred came in interrupting. Clark sighed in relief. 

 

Bruce was going to let whatever Alfred needed to tell him be the subject for another time but something in Alfred’s face alarmed him. He had a phone in his hand. The phone Gordon would call in case a big case showed itself and he needed Batman’s help immediately.

 

“You should really take this call.” Alfred said.

 

As if he needed to persuade Bruce further. Bruce walked over to him, took the phone and began speaking to Gordon when the door was securely closed behind him in the study room.

 

He deepened his voice, “Gordon.”

 

He listened patiently and quietly as the detective on the other line started speaking.

 

“Tried to reach you last night but didn’t want to bother you too late. I imagine you wouldn’t have minded but I needed to get you at a time to allow you to get through the shock of it. You remember the sex slavery ring you busted a few days ago?

 

“We.” Bruce corrected him, “And yes I do, what about it.”

 

“Seems you pummeling them didn’t do the trick. That or whoever this missing Omega they are looking for is very valuable to their business. I knew you were already going to look more into this organization but now, here’s a catalyst.”

 

Bruce’s chest tightened. Missing Omega? Clark.

 

Gordon continued, “Last night, or perhaps this early morning, at 3am, one of our night guards found a dead body near the Bat signal. Came with a note and a photo. A photo of what looks like you and a young man taken in Gotham’s underground. Looks like you’re carrying him…”

 

By this time, Bruce stopped listening and had to sit down. His mind was calculating all of the moves he pulled on the night he found Clark and the setting. How the sky looked, the alley, and the people he remembered seeing. All of that and more flashed through his mind at rapid speed.

 

“…So whoever this missing Omega is must be very valuable to them because they dumped the dead body of an Omega right on the sign to get your full attention. They really want him back.”

 

Bruce shut his eyes for a moment, “Okay. You mentioned a note. What did the note say?” He asked.

 

Gordon answered, “ _Three days. The slums._ ”

 

“That’s all?”

 

“Yup.”

 

Bruce had to work hard to keep his voice from shaking in anger, “And the…dead Omega. Is he one from the ring that night?”

 

“We’re working on finding that out ourselves. Needless to say, they could do worse things from here on now, whoever these men are. Is the Omega they want with you by any chance?”

 

Bruce hesitated, “No. Not anymore. I found him lost in Gotham’s underground with a broken ankle and made sure he was treated at a hospital.” Bruce half-lied.

 

Gordon sighed and Bruce could hear him rubbing his chin thoughtfully, “This Omega that they want…his family could be in trouble next. Hell, the Omega they killed as a threat could also be his family…Just whatever you do to deal with this…know it’s not your fault and phone us when you need help or have cracked something big. We’ll be doing an investigation of our own of course.”

 

They both said their goodbyes after Bruce thanked him for the call. The Alpha stayed sat on his chair and stared menacingly at the grandfather clock ahead of him, picturing a plethora of illegal things he wanted to do to the Alphas once he encountered them. Challenging the Batman head on was a huge and foolish mistake on their part. And Bruce was determined to let that be known to them soon.

 

“Bruce.”

 

Alfred came into the study room sensing Bruce’s anger instantly. “It’s not your fault.” He said.

 

“Alfred someone is dead. Someone innocent is dead because of me.” Bruce snarled.

 

“You can’t help or predict the violence of some men Bruce. Do _not_ let this bring you further down.” Alfred snapped back.

 

“Further down?” Bruce repeated in offense.

 

“Since Jason and Grayson, you’ve been staring into this darkness that has led you to forget who you are at times. You haven’t seen daylight since. You’ve started avoiding it more and more and it terrifies me.” Alfred said quietly. His voice was shaken and pleading.

 

The menace on Bruce’s face diminished but the anger remained, “Alfred, I can’t let them get to me. And you really have to stop worrying about me. I’m fine.”

 

Alfred chuckled, “You know I actually do believe you a little. I’ve seen you dodge a few chances to destroy everything that you know and have.”

 

With a sigh, Alfred added, “I hope that continues.” He squeezed Bruce’s shoulder in comfort.

 

Bruce cleared his throat and looked at the grandfather clock again. Pondering what his plan to thwart this Omega slave ring and protect Clark would be.

 

As if Alfred was reading his mind, he asked, “So what’s the plan?”

 

After a few minutes, Bruce stood up from his chair and answered, “We get the Batman off of their radar.”

 

Alfred raised a quizzical brow, “In what way?”

 

“We draw their attention to someone else. Someone who’s more than familiar with Gotham’s underground slums. I will definitely be planning on running into them tonight. And this time I’m making sure I eradicate their whole organization. I don’t care how long it takes.”

 

“How will you do that without half of them being terrified of the Batman and want to set a trap for you? They’ll be ready for you.” Alfred challenged.

 

Bruce replied, “Exactly. I said I wanted the Batman off their radar. I’m going with another plan here Alfred.”

 

Alfred stared into his eyes and slowly, his mouth went agape when he came to the realization, “No. I’d rather you go as Batman. We don’t know what these men are capable off. You need the protection.”

 

“And I’ll have the protection Alfred. It’s not the first time I use a disguise to crack a case anyway.”

 

“But that was then. This is now. Things are much different now.”

 

Bruce sighed and reassured, “Matches Malone is a timeless man. And he has a much better chance of gathering evidence on these crooks than Batman does at the moment. They have a picture of me carrying Clark Alfred. I can’t encourage that hunch. I need to throw them off.”

 

Alfred looked as if he was going to protest again but let it go. “Will you tell Clark?”

 

Bruce’s heart skipped a beat and he mumbled, “I don’t want to scare him. So let’s keep this between you and me.”

 

Bruce knew Alfred wouldn’t like his suggestion but nonetheless, the butler nodded understanding and they both made their way out of the study room. Alfred went outside, probably back to the lake house and Bruce went back into the kitchen to join Clark again. Clark however, was no longer in the kitchen.

 

Bruce called his name with gradual panic creeping up and thought to look in the suite he had Clark staying in first, before he _really_ panicked. He ran up the spiral staircases in a hurry and breathed a sigh of relief when he did find Clark in the bedroom…taking his heat suppressant pills. Safe.

 

Clark obviously surprised by Bruce’s flustered state asked, “Is something wrong?”

 

Bruce leaned on the doorframe trying to come up with a believable lie as Clark approached him.

 

“Uh, your cookies are burning.” Bruce said in huff. He grimaced clearly not convinced with the lie himself.

 

Clark frowned and put his hands on his hips, “I didn’t even finish making the cookie dough mix yet.” Why was Bruce lying to him so suddenly?

 

Bruce’s face went solemn and he couldn’t shake how much the thought of losing Clark scared him. It was so unlike him to be this upset over someone he barely knew and yet it was a genuine worry.

 

And Clark clearly sensed the billionaire was shaken about something bigger than burning cookies.

 

Clark asked Bruce again. This time in a softer and concerned tone, “Hey. What’s going on? Talk to me.”


	6. I Can't

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Confessions, angst, complicated Bruce, and smutty teases.

Clark’s departure happened quickly. So quickly that Bruce could not decide even after the lengthy and panicked back and forth he had with the Omega, if it even happened. He pleaded Clark to stay, told him everything would be fine and he would keep the Alphas searching for him at bay.  But it seemed all of his promises were drowned out by Clark’s frantic sobs and seemed to fuel his panic.

 

Bruce can’t even recall how far he’d let Clark go until he ran after him either. He was moving particularity quickly through the endless fields outside of the manor’s gates, screaming his name and doing 360 degree turns every other stride.

 

Yet however long he searched, the Omega was nowhere in sight. There was that curious speed of his being displayed again. But no trashcan to stop him this time…

 

“You couldn’t have gone that far.” Bruce muttered.

 

He searched again. But this time went around and behind the manor when his nose picked up Clark’s scent. Not that the particular lock on the scent was a new hope. Bruce was still able to smell Clark from miles as he recently found out, but it didn’t mean he could locate him just from it. However it was worth a try.

 

Bruce sprinted around the back of the mansion and only slowed down to a jog when he heard sobs. Sobs that he located to be coming from near the fountain with the angel statue. A quick flashback took him to Gotham’s underground, approaching the dark alley where he first met Clark.

 

And as Bruce circled the fountain, Clark finally emerged, sitting with his arms wrapped around himself and still crying. The Omega looked so small and scared. He looked like a lost boy again.

 

 “W-w-why do you care?” Clark stuttered asking when he noticed Bruce standing over him. He sobbed loudly and into his knees again not looking back up until Bruce was sitting next to him against the fountain.

 

“Why are you asking that?” The Alpha asked. His voice was broken due to his screaming.

 

"In h-h-high school... I tried t-t-to hide that I was an Omega. I was the only m-m-male Omega in my entire sss-school," sobbed Clark.  "I-I was always k-kind of jealous of... g-guys like you. And I knew I could n-n-never be like you. I... thought it w-w-would be nice... to just p-pretend.  B-but it’s n-n-not me. A-Alphas have always g-given me a h-hard time. But you’re d-d-different. I sensed it immediately y-you were different…You n-never looked… _down_ on me y-you know. W-when you took off your m-mask in that alley, y-you gave me this look like…like I was worth sss-s-something. And it was n-natural. You weren’t b-baiting. No A-Alpha has ever l-l-looked at me l-like that."

 

Bruce swallowed a lump in his throat not knowing how to respond to Clark’s random revelation. There was a tempt to give some response to it, but Bruce remained speechless.

 

“I w-w-want to… to go home.” Clark continued. “B-b-but I’m scared…M-my hope is L-Lois doesn’t think I’m d-d-dead and that m-m-my mom thinks I’m still t-traveling.” Clark’s face scrunched up again and he let out the most heartbreaking sob yet.

 

“Oh, G-God Bruce if anything w-w-were to happen t-t-.” Clark couldn’t finish.

 

He was stuck. The six years of speech therapy he’s had to suppress his stutter did wonders when he wasn’t in distress like this. Clark tried to control his breaths and force the rest of what he wanted to say out, but after a while, he sighed giving up and shook his head, “I-I’m sorry.”

 

Bruce comforted him and in a soothing voice encouraged him. “It’s okay. Take your time.”

 

Even while Bruce could have easily filled in the rest of what Clark was going to say, he didn’t want to take anything away from him.

 

“S-sometimes…I-I s-s-stutter a lot w-when I’m…I’m…” Clark was stuck on his sentence again.

 

Bruce listened patiently still encouraging the Omega. “You’re doing fine.”

 

Clark looked at Bruce again and repeated the question he asked him in the beginning to their conversation. “W-why do you care?”

 

Bruce didn’t respond. Thus far, that was how their conversation mostly went. Clark spoke, Bruce listened.

 

Clark spoke again not waiting for a response anyhow.  “They w-want me. N-n-now you’re wrapped up in _my_ mess. This all ends if I j-j-just go back t-t-to him. You’ve d-done enough.”

 

He sniffled and lowered his head again.

 

Bruce inhaled deeply then responded. “You really want to go to him?”

 

The question took Clark by surprise. It wasn’t so much the question but more of the way it was asked. As if Bruce was really willing to let him decide his own fate and go to Lex if that was what the Omega wanted.  And for a moment Clark entertained it. He could let Lex just claim him and get this over with.

 

All the running, crying, fearing for his life and Lex...would be done with. There’s a chance that even while he despised Lex, their bond would still make Lex be a tolerable mate. Clark wouldn’t even care if the Alpha mated someone else and left him. He’s used to loving people who don’t love him back. He could do it. He could let Lex claim him and it would be the most defeating decision to make. But it would end this.

 

“I could...” Clark whispered. He got it out. Shocked with himself, he continued, “E-even after all he’s d-done to me…I sss-still could. If I j-just push that b-bad side of him out of my head…”

 

Clark paused and closed his eyes. This was such a new low for him. Giving up like this. He told himself to stop thinking the way he was and said no more. Both he and Bruce sat quiet with neither wanting to break the silence.

 

Then after a moment, Bruce stated quietly. “I…enjoyed kissing you.”

 

Clark shifted and stopped hugging his knees. He lifted his head and looked intently at Bruce waiting for him to add more to what he’d just said. Bruce wasn’t looking at him but at the neatly cut shrubs in the distance. He showed no sign of prepping to expand on his confession. Clark frowned. He really _really_ wished Bruce would speak more.

 

Gaining the courage, Clark carefully put a hand on Bruce’s shoulder saying, “It was s-so quick but I liked it too.”

 

He smiled gleefully, “It was m-my first real kiss!”

 

Bruce’s breath seemed to seize for a moment, “’Real kiss?” He asked. Clark gave him a shrug that Bruce caught on to immediately with sorrow.

 

“It’s okay. I’m okay.” Clark assured. The last thing he wanted to do was recount all of the awful non-consensual harassments he’s forgone. He didn’t want Bruce to see him as that victim. Not in this moment.

 

Bruce swallowed audibly and mumbled. “I care Clark. I really care. And I don’t like to see you hurt but if going home and facing Lex on your own and in your own way is really what you want then I won’t stop you.”

 

Clark's eyebrows went up. He stared at Bruce as if waiting for the man to chuckle and say he was joking.

 

"Are you... serious?" The Omega asked.

 

Bruce’s own brows arched in confusion. He repeated what he had just told to Clark over and over in his head to make sure he wasn’t missing something. Clark after all did tell him he’d consider going to Lex.

 

"Why wouldn’t I be serious?" Bruce asked.

 

Clark made a small noise sounding as if he was going to cry again but soon Bruce realized the Omega was simply trying to hold back a laugh. This confused him even more and thus the confusion on Bruce’s handsome face made Clark lose it. He let the giggles out and his body shook with laughter within seconds. He laughed until he again had to wipe tears away from his face.

 

“Y-you are either the most oblivious man in the world o-or you want to get rid of me.” Clark giggled still trying to calm himself down. “H-how can you tell me that after I said I liked k-kissing you! I couldn’t be more obvious here. I don’t want Lex! Bruce, you’ve rendered me w-weak at my knees every time you’re near me…”

 

He paused to catch a breath. Then with a sigh, he continued. “And before you s-s-say anything, it’s not just my h-heat or Omega tendencies that make me feel the way I do. I like you Bruce and I don’t know what I c-can do to make that more obvious.”

 

Bruce slowly put two and two together and with all of it laid out in front of him, Clark was right. The attraction couldn’t be more obvious but, “I never want to…confirm these signals myself all the time. Especially not with the history you’ve had with…” he said.

 

Clark nodded and moved closer to the older man. “What can I do to m-make those signals explicitly obvious?” Clark whispered the question right by Bruce’s ear. There was a hint of quaking from the Alpha.

 

He turned to face Clark and very slowly their faces inched ever so closely. When their noses touched, Clark giggled softly and said, “If you’re g-going to kiss me again, you guide m-me. I’m the virgin here.”

 

Bruce closed his eyes, cocked his head to the side a little and gently sucked in Clark’s lower lip. Clark keened after a moment and wrapped his arms around Bruce’s neck, pushing his body against him as the Alpha piloted their kiss.

 

The older man shifted to gather Clark into his arms pulling him over his lap. He wanted to squeeze the Omega and press his body to his more closely, but didn’t want to crush him. More importantly, he didn’t want to get overwhelmed by his scent and thus lose control on him.

 

As they deepened their kiss, Bruce steered it the French route and added in his tongue. Clark responded to it sublimely; moaning erratically each time he tasted Bruce’s warm and wet tongue with his own. It sent such a throbbing intensity of electric lust throughout his body never felt once before.

 

He was opening up for Bruce, dripping with slick at an alarming rate as Bruce’s murmured lulls of how good he smelled and felt sent shudders up his spine; making him instinctively grind forward and pant heedlessly alongside the Alpha’s face.

 

"P-p-please..." submitted Clark with a painful mewl as indeed, his desire to be filled by Bruce was painful.

 

His right hand slid under Bruce's shirt and upon his scarred chest as he begged. "Ma-mate me Alpha…"

 

Bruce sucked in a harsh breath and forced himself to draw back a small distance as he carefully pushed Clark off his lap, who left a spot of slick on him. Bruce’s own excitement was soaring hot against his thigh, giving the feel of a warm branding on the skin.  He was stupidly feverish and more than anything wanted to lay Clark down on the concrete flooring and claim him.

 

Still, he forced back those drives for Clark’s sake…For his own sake. He didn’t even know if he wanted to go as far as to claim him. His line of work, he couldn’t afford to. Bruce avoids these moments like the plague for a reason.

 

With Clark, the challenge to smother those feelings proved somewhat oddly perplexing. From the moment he laid eyes on the Omega, there was an intensity presenting to him a change of course in his way of life. Presenting to him a peaceful alternative. 

 

He was slowly and surely falling for Clark despite how much he wanted to point the blame solely at the natural Alpha and Omega desirability. And however abrupt these feeling were, they were feelings whose own evidence couldn’t be overlooked.

 

When he was kissing Clark, holding him firm in his arms, he felt, for a moment, as if there was a life of promising jovialness ahead worth pursuing. Pledged to him if he just kept Clark close.  And Bruce wanted to keep him close as the vow tempted but even while the idea of Clark leaving filled him with dread and grief, it didn’t out do the fear of loving him and someday losing him.

 

“I can’t.” Bruce breathed out.

 

A pout of confusion showed on Clark’s face as his gaze went down to Bruce’s middle. He fixed it right at Bruce’s crotch catching a sight of an outline snaking down along the Alpha’s thigh in his pajama bottoms. Clark had only felt it before, but now that he was _seeing_ it, he couldn’t look away.

 

It was something…looked as large as it felt pressed against him that Friday afternoon. Bruce noticed Clark’s stare and stood up to adjust himself quickly. Clark timidly looked down to his hands feeling like a perv.

 

“You should go home Clark…Today.” Bruce told him softly.

 

He felt gutted saying it and even hesitated wanting to take it back. It was apparent that all of his senses were against this decision but he rejected their objections. 

 

Clark wanted to ask where the sudden change of heart came from but he was so breathless, not to mention woozy that all he was able to get out was a weak, “I…”

 

He placed his palms flat on the concrete and tried to balance himself to stand. Once he got on his knees, his head fell heavy as he sensed an overwhelmingly strong pull back to the earth. The last thing he remembers was Bruce frantically reaching out to catch him in his arms as he passed out.


	7. Snow In Cairo

Clark came to with bright sunlight sneaking in through the half opened curtains above the bed he was in. With a loud groan, he tried lifting his head from the resting comfort of the pillow, but a muffled voice told him to lie back down. He did what the voice said, lying his head back down and trying to get his eyes to focus.

 

He was in Bruce’s room, felt really cold despite being completely under the warmth of a blanket, and had a warm towel placed over his forehead. When his eyes finally focused, he realized it was Alfred in the room with him who had told him to lie back down.

 

“Where’s Bruce?” mumbled Clark.

 

The question seemed to have slipped out of his mouth automatically. He hadn’t forgotten their moment. The way their lips locked as if they were meant to be, the way Bruce’s body felt, the way he tasted…and then there was Bruce’s odd rejection to mate him.

 

“Master Bruce is off on business.” Answered Alfred taking the towel off of Clark’s forehead. “By the way, how many times have you taken your heat suppressant pills today? How many pills?” He asked.

 

With a groan Clark answered rather groggily. “12 pills I think…It seems to only have an effect when I double the dose. It’s strange... And I think today was the first time I tripled my dose because I was still...needy.”

 

Alfred beamed. “Ah ha! There’s the cause of the fever. You shouldn’t take so many pills in one day. Doing so is most likely why you fainted too.”

 

Clark hadn’t even been listening to Alfred’s diagnosis. He was still thinking about Bruce. When he blinked he saw Bruce, when he smelled, it was Bruce’s scent he caught the most, and simply repeating the Alpha’s name in his head over and over almost made him a wreck. But a nice kind of wreck. Love wreck. He was in love with Bruce. Painful, unimaginable love.

 

"Bruce…" He whined quietly, stretching on the bed.

 

He rolled himself onto his stomach ignoring Alfred’s protest not to do so. He was still so wet, the slimy content dampening his boxers absurdly. He sighed, trying to think of anything else other than Bruce, but he couldn’t. He hoped he hadn’t scared the Alpha away with how uncharacteristically advancing he was.

 

“Alfred?” He called.

 

The butler sat himself at the edge of the bed and hummed attentively.

 

Hot tears streaked Clark’s face once again as he recounted. “He kissed me again Alfred, but when I kissed him back and may have been too forward about wanting him to…you know, he told me he couldn’t. Before, I wondered if he just hated me. Now, I don’t know anymore.”

 

He whimpered into his pillow feeling like he was a child again. He’s never cried so much and pathetically over a man aside from his Father after his death. However, he genuinely wondered why Bruce was so reluctant to take him, especially in knowing he was interested.

 

Clark knew the attraction they had for each other was mutual. He felt it in their kiss, heard it in the words Bruce was whispering to him, the gentle and controlled way he was handling him…

 

Alfred sighed low before he muttered. “Bruce hardly hates you Clark. In fact, him pushing you away as he’s doing…is his odd way of communicating he cares very much for you.”

 

Clark sobbed. “That’s some way to show your care for someone.”

 

Alfred chuckled. This situation between Bruce and Clark was not one the butler didn’t see coming. It was nearly impossible to entice the older man to pursue a love life.

 

After Jason's death, Bruce had become plagued with this ever growing fear of loss as well. Specifically not being there for whom he loved, to take care of them. This fear, Alfred could not talk out of Bruce, and thus it was ever mounting. Alfred guesses Bruce letting go of Clark had much to do with it.

 

“Bruce has had a complicated past.” Alfred said seriously. “To recount the origins of his current being would take…” his voice trailed with melancholy. “…a lifetime.”

 

Clark sniffled, dissecting Alfred’s answer in his head. There was a lot he didn’t know about Bruce but at the same time, the little bits that Alfred has mentioned to him of his behavior were enough clues to have him fill in the blanks. Bruce has had a lot of loss in his life, he sensed it.

 

And the way he dealt with that loss was to avoid anything that would bring about the possibility of loss. Loss was something Clark was very familiar with. But unlike the Alpha, he sought closure and love in response, rather than avoidance and isolation.

 

Clark asked quietly. “Alfred, what are the chances he comes around?” He heard the butler sigh and shift on the bed a little.

 

“Do you want the realistic answer or the optimistic answer?” The butler answered with a question.

 

Clark turned on his back, still under the warm covers. He quickly wiped his tears away, sat up, and requested. “Realistic.”

 

Alfred sulked, shrugging. “Realistically? About as likely as snow in Cairo.”

 

Clark’s heart dropped.

 

Alfred continued. “Realistically, after we get you back home to Metropolis today, this will be the last you see of him. Well, unless you’ve got access to attend the exec meetings at the Wayne Enterprise headquarter there.  Or visit him yourself but he will do everything he can to get you to forget about him.”

 

Alfred gave Clark a warm smile, trying to ease the heart ache showing in his demeanor. Clark blushed and looked down to his hands. “Thanks for being honest.” Then he wondered. “H-how long have I been out again?”

 

“Half an hour.”

 

Clark’s eyes widened. “Oh woah, I didn’t even make the cookies!” He remembered. “The mixture sitting out for that long could be bad!”

 

Alfred chuckled. “If you’d like to, you can come back downstairs and finish baking them. I’m meant to drop you off in Metropolis in two hours. We’ve contacted a Lois Lane, who’s ready for your arrival.”

 

Clark’s heart did dances at the thought of seeing Lois again. But the lump in his throat reminded him of the trouble he was still in.

 

“So he really wants me to go huh?” said Clark with a sigh.

 

“I’m afraid so but that doesn’t mean he’s forgetting about you.” The butler assured.

 

Clark smiled small and pulled the covers up and over his chin. “Okay. I’ll be down in a second. I need to…you know.” His face reddened and he looked down again.

 

Alfred excused himself politely but before leaving Clark alone, asked him. “Do you feel fine?”

 

Clark nodded quickly and Alfred gave him a thumbs up as he went around the bed and toward the door.

 

“Wait!” Clark blurted suddenly out before Alfred went far. “Could…could I get the optimistic answer too?”

 

Alfred stepped back into the room and grinned. “Optimistically,” he started. “I think he can come around. When you ran out and Bruce chased out after you, I’ve never heard such horror and dread in his voice when he called me to look for you. And when he brought you back into the manor after you fainted, he laid you down on this bed rather reluctantly. As if he was…hesitant to let you out of his arms... I haven’t seen such a behavior from him in a long while. It looked as if it  _hurt_ him to let you go... Whatever you’re doing to him is having some effect. An effect that I feel will draw him back to you…if you don’t give up on him.”

 

Clark smiled bashfully till his cheeks stung a bit. Bruce being hesitant to let him go was a good sign. And whether Alfred was just saying it or not, he had already decided that he wouldn’t give up on Bruce. He can’t. Clark was willing to dabble with his ‘snow in Cairo’ improbable chances.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Slowly but surely Bruce will come around...>.>


	8. Just Another Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nocturnes and Preludes.

_Gotham: Nocturne_

 

 

Bruce felt it come back immediately. Control. After Clark was safely dropped off in Metropolis by Alfred, the older man found himself thinking more clearly and with less lag. However, it was back to business as usual and that business still involved Clark Kent. Alfred protested against doing what he was going to do. Boy did he protest.

 

But Bruce being as hard headed as he was, could not be swayed any other way. Once he set his mind to something, it was final. And there was no way in hell he was backing down from dismantling the Omega sex slavery organization that showed its ugly head in Gotham City a few nights ago. And this he was willing to do however he felt it was best to do.

 

Even in knowing he couldn’t dismantle the organisation by himself, he was on a mission to cause some serious damage. Damage that would hopefully be as everlasting as the marks he left on his worst enemies.

 

So, during the hours of 11 and 2 AM, Bruce stalked in disguise the worm-eaten, crumbling, and empty vacancies of Gotham’s abandoned underground. He received a couple of inquiring looks from half-drunk to delirious strangers wondering around the streets, but sought to pay no mind to them until he saw three men he immediately sensed were the target he was searching for tonight.

 

They had their heads down, mouths covered by the high collar of their leather jackets. They were whispering amongst themselves about something urgent and Bruce trained his ears to pick up whatever it was that they were talking about as he took a seat on a nearby battered bench. As the men approached his vicinity, one of them rather loudly spat, “I only left a note. I knew nothing about the murder.”

 

Then the men on the left responded, “I ain’t saying you did it but someone did and they’re probably trying to get us killed! You saw what the Batman did to Allen? He’s still in the hospital barely breathing with help!”

 

The men on the right chimed in. “Whatever happened, we’re lucky the Batman’s not on our tail for now. So forget about him right now. New plan. Lex…”

 

As Bruce picked up the name Lex, his ears perked up as his pulse increased with excitement. These were his guys. There was the confirmation. The three men walked by the bench passing by the red-faced, and bearded stranger unbeknownst to them that it was the Batman.

 

Bruce cleared his throat audibly enough to get any stranger within a mile to hear him. The three men stopped in synch.

 

“Got something you want to say old man?” The men on the left asked. Only feature Bruce noticed from his was his rather short compared to the other two.

 

Bruce put on a half-crazed visage; his cheeks grew red while his jaw tightened, and his eyes opened wide darting back and forth without blinking. He asked the three men. “You the ones looking for that Omega?”

 

It was straight to the point and abrupt but it got the attention of the men just as Bruce needed. The man in the middle went alert as he approached Bruce on the bench. “Who are you?” He asked.

 

Half of his face was shaded in darkness while the other showed dimly from the flickering street lamp above him. From what Bruce could see, the man had a nasty scar slashed across it.

 

Bruce answered. “Doesn’t matter. My identity is probably not as important as you finding that Clark boy.” He smiled a little showing a row of rotten teeth.

 

The man on the right stepped forward drawing a gun. It took Bruce by surprise but he remained calm. “You think we’re stupid enough to fall for this?” He began. “That disguise ain’t so clever old man. We know you’re a cop.”

 

The man cocked the gun, shoving the cold muzzle right against Bruce’s wrinkled forehead.  The billionaire’s eyes watered with concealed nerve.

 

“Come on Zadd, don’t kill him yet, he might really know where the Omega is. Let’s bring him with us, get him to spill, and then toss his ass aside. We’ll search for any recording devices he got on him.” One of the Alphas said.

 

Bruce let out a small sigh of relief and smirked to himself. To get the Alphas to perhaps bring him to any of their base operation was his endgame for tonight, and it occurred a lot quicker than he imagined it would.

 

These men probably weren’t so high ranking of they were this dense and easy. If they had been more wary of him, Bruce was prepared to show them a few photos of Clark’s ruined clothes. Or mention the young man’s heterochromia in his left eye if they didn’t believe he’d ran into the Omega and knew of his whereabouts. But this outcome was much better bar that it could have ended worse. It could still end badly but this was what he did best. Just another night.

 

“Get up. Shut your mouth. You’re coming with us.” said the Alpha who still had his gun trained on Bruce cautiously. Bruce got up with his hands in the air and gladly obliged to their every command without protest.

 

 

_Metropolis: Prelude_

 

 

When Alfred dropped Clark off at his apartment, Lois greeted him teary eyes and hugged him tightly at the maroon steps to the entrance. The night was a cool and cloudless one with the city lights falling on their faces as they smiled and exchanged greetings and ‘I’ve missed you’s’.

 

She noticed Clark had all but a small bag with him and was fitted with clothes not tailored to his size but she didn’t care. As she let Clark go back over to the chauffer and trade goodbyes, she wanted to talk to the chauffer for a bit as well, but it seemed the man was in a hurry so she only smiled and waved politely from a distance.

 

“Mr. Wayne’s chauffer looks quite spiffy for his job.”  Lois joked as they took the elevator to the third floor of the complex.

 

Clark smiled shaking his head. Alfred sure had a sense of fashion. It reminded him of the look of European football managers. His outfit tonight for example; designer slacks and cashmere turtleneck topped with an Italian Wool Blend coat.

 

“He does clean up nice.” Clark said chuckling.

 

The elevator dinged opening its doors to a dimly lit corridor. As they stepped out, Clark explained. “Alfred’s not really Bruce’s chauffer per say. He’s much more than that. It’s hard to explain.”

 

It’s actually very easy to explain but Clark didn’t want to relay to Lois about Bruce’s other life _._ Alfred made it explicitly clear to him that it was important he said nothing of it to anyone else.

 

“Sounds mysterious. You know I don’t fare well with mysteries.” Lois mumbled.

 

She clicked opened the door to Clark’s apartment with the extra key Clark had offered to her when he first moved into the building. She was the only one in Metropolis he trusted enough to give away access to all things personal to him. Also, she lived two doors to his left and they often slept over at each other‘s places for movie nights, dinner parties, and whatever else clichéd adventures apartment neighbors got up to.

 

“Well you’ll have to fare with this one for now.” He said with a smile.

 

Lois shrugged and as she opened the door to Clark’s apartment, the Omega’s face glowed as if it was heaven’s gates that had been opened before him. He kicked off his shoes and did a silly waltz into the living room; arms flailed out and body spinning until the finish, a small curtsy.

 

“Home freaking sweet home.” He sighed.

 

A gust of wind blew from the half opened window behind him. The intruding chill hugged his body as if welcoming him back before dissipating leaving goose bumps on his skin.

 

Lois smiled gleefully at him. “Speaking of sweet…”

 

She pulled him to the dining room. She had two mugs set on the round and waited for Clark to pick up on their contents. As Clark’s nose picked up an aroma of a sweet and caramel like smell, he squeaked. That was Rwandan tea he smelled.

 

It was his absolute favorite tea since Lois brought back a packet of the tea bags from her mission trip to Rwanda back when they were seniors in college. One could only obtain them from Kitabi, located in the Southwest of Rwanda, so this was a pleasant surprise.

 

“No way! I thought you were out of these from your trip!” He said excitedly.

 

He took a sip from the brown mug closest to him and might as well have climaxed as the liquid trickled down his throat. It tea tasted sensational with or without milk, but Clark preferred it with milk and that was how Lois prepared it for him.

 

Lois smiled proudly. “I was out. But Vanessa who went with me last time went back to visit her mom and brought some over while you were gone. I was going to surprised you with it on your birthday but thought why not now.”  

 

“Aw I’m glad you didn’t wait, haha! I love it. Thank you.” Clark chirped. He plopped himself on a seat, drinking more from his mug. God he missed this taste. He missed home. It was good to be back.

 

Lois took a seat across from him and drank her tea as well. “So, what have you been up to?” She asked.

 

Clark set down his mug, clearing his throat and answered. “Not much.”

 

He never looked at her when he said it, and to Lois, that was a big red flag and a sign of a big fat lie. Clark wasn’t a liar. Not solely because he thought it was morally wrong but also because he was terrible at it. Especially with her.

 

That he was even attempting to lie to her set alarms off in her head. The fears she’d developed during his absence, of his being stranded somewhere dangerous or worse dead, flooded back into her mind.

 

“The traveling life is not for me though, I can tell you that.” Clark added chuckling.

 

“Clark. Don’t try to hide things from me. You won’t hide things from me for long. You’re gone for a long time. No calls. And just now, got dropped off by an employee of a billionaire.” She said seriously.

 

Clark sighed and then laughed at himself under his breath a little. He actually thought he could keep what really happened to him while he was away from Lois. Lois Lane, Pulitzer prize nominated investigative journalist. Yeah right. But the ruse was worth a try.  

 

“Okay. If I tell you, promise me you won’t get mad.”

 

“You know I can’t promise that.”

 

Clark groaned. “Okay. But at least promise me this stays between you and me.”

 

“Ha, that depends Kansas.” She cackled.

 

Clark moped. “Lois, I mean it.”

 

She huffed and flipped her auburn hair off her shoulders. “Fine. Promise.”

 

Clark began his long story with the night his kidnappers blindsided him, grabbed him and threw him into a van while he was on the outskirts of Metropolis. He begrudgingly and briefly talked about the protocols they went through before putting him on the market, available for _purchase_ ; weight check, age, claimed or unclaimed, ect.

 

Then, he told her about some of the abuses he endured; the many attempted rapes, the beatings, the…He hated talking about this. Making a point to avoid mentioning Lex, he finally told her the anecdote of his arrival in Gotham and how the GCPD found he and many other Omegas in the ring that night.

 

“That night was the best chance I had to escape so I didn’t even think about it. It was crazy. As soon as I was out of the encaged holding, I ran to_Pff, wherever. Didn’t go far though. Gotham city is freaky so I was freaking out and had a mini breakdown in an alley before Bruce found me_” Clark caught himself before saying more.

 

Shit. How was he going to explain being found by a billionaire in Gotham’s most criminally laden areas? Luckily for him, Lois wasn’t interested in that bit of information at all. As expected she was all over him being a sex slave.

 

She demanded to know who it was responsible for kidnapping him and queried Clark on whether he remembered any names and faces. Clark shook his head no to everything she asked almost defensively. He told her his memories of those times were all a blur but in reality he did remember some faces and could probably echo a few names, but he didn’t want to talk about it.

 

He rubbed his temples, closing his eyes in fatigue. “I don’t…Can we not dwell on it? This is why I didn’t even want to bring it up.” He griped.

 

Lois gawked at him and shrilly replied. “Please don’t tell me you want to do nothing about this Clark. This is a huge deal. Just like I didn’t let you forgive and forget what Lex did to you, I won’t let this go.”

 

Clark sighed. Good thing he decided not to mention Lex, he concluded. This was what he wanted avoid. He didn’t like seeing Lois like this; angry, and yelling. He knew it was all in her love for him but he didn’t fare well with these intense moments.

 

“I won’t let it go. I’m not.” Clark defended himself. “The GCPD are running an investigation on the whole thing and most importantly I’m fine!” Clark finished exasperated.

 

Lois only chuckled with disbelief in response. A Lois who was too furious for words… Clark definitely did not like that.

 

"Lo…” he breathed, shutting his eyes and leaning back into his cushioned chair. “There was a lot that happened. Things I should really talk about. But I don’t want to give attention to that now. I’ve been gone for… for a year? I’ve missed you and once upon a time I didn’t think I’d ever be back and safe right here at home again. Yes, I did go through a lot of crappy stuff and I’m not ignoring or forgiving it at all. It’ll be a part of me forever, trust me. But right now, I just want to enjoy the free life. I want to enjoy this delicious tea on this cold night, than recount those seriously awful times.” He said.

 

His eyes opened again staring pleadingly into Lois’s.

 

She shook her head slightly, trying to wrap her head around all Clark told her. This was the stuff one would learn from crime documentaries; most taking place in foreign to poor countries.

 

Or in movies where stories such as Clark’s, are often exaggerated to increase the drama and stake. But to have it have happened in real life to someone so close to her, rings stunning and terrifying to Lois.

 

Running her fingers through her hair, she begrudgingly agreed with her best friend. “That’s fair enough. But…Just wow Clark… And it’s probably a good call not to tell Martha this. It’s a lot.”

 

She bit her nail nervously and wondered how Clark could still keep a smile on his face after going through something like this. Some moments it hurts her profoundly that he continually suffers like this, but that he still smiles after it all lifts her spirits. It was inspiring. But he deserved better than all of this.

 

Clark smiled warmly at her and nodded. They sat still for a long moment in a reflective sort of silence before Clark spoke again. “Some good, I guess?...Came out of it though.” He said shyly.

 

He wanted to steer their conversation to a lighter side of what he experienced. He wanted to talk about Bruce.

 

“What good?” Lois asked with a sigh, then a halfhearted smile.

 

She tried to not to sound as agitated as she felt but it went to no avail as Clark noticed her irritation right away.

 

“Lois come on, I’m fine.” Clark repeated.

 

“I know. I know. Sorry.”

 

She sighed and waited for Clark to answer not really taking her mind off of their last conversation. That was until she noticed a change in his conduct that teased her attention, slowly pulling her out of her underlying fury.

 

He was sliding his fingers up and down his mug, his shoulders were slumped, and his right leg wouldn’t stop shaking under the table. To cap this off, he had a stupid smile on his face. Clark always got like this when he had a crush.

 

She asked with amusement in her tone. “Oh... Who is he?”

 

Clark laughed breathily. He opened his mouth but said nothing while it was still agape. It was as if he was having trouble finding his words. This behavior, Lois had not seen before in this context.

 

“Oh. You’re in love!” She giggled. “Who is it?”

 

Clark reddened. “I’m not in love.” He lied. “Okay. Maybe…You know I’ve been staying over at Bruce’s…” He began.

 

“Yeeees?” She extended leaning forward.

 

Clark laughed nervously again. His hands were shaking now so he trapped them in between his thighs before he continued. “Well, he’s an Alpha…He’s the one who you know, helped me and everything…He’s single_you know, Gotham’s most eligible bachelor…he’s nice, and_” His breath hitched stopping him.

 

“Fucking hot.” Lois finished his sentence giggling again.

 

Clark held his breath and nodded. “That too.” His breath came out shaky as he recalled their steamy kiss outside the manor.

 

Lois’s giggles were faint in his ears and he couldn’t focus on what she was asking him for a few seconds.

 

“Oh my god, you’re swooning! Earth to Clark! What happened between you two?”

 

Clark fluttered his lashes and joked. “Ugh, what _hasn’t_ happened between us?”

 

That made Lois laugh. A candid and joyful laugh he missed hearing from her. “As if your chaste self even got anywhere past elementary flirting.” She chuckled.

 

Clark made a tiny noise in response to Lois’s retort. The same noise he made when Bruce first kissed him in the study room.

 

Lois’s mouth hung open before she mouthed. “What happened?!”

 

Clark said nothing again but only got redder in the face and hot.

 

“Did you?...Oh, Clark, did he?...you?” Lois had all but forgotten how to form a complete sentence.

 

She was smiling so much, her face was hurting but she really needed Clark to speak to her before she presumed too much.

 

“We didn’t.” Came Clark’s reply as he found his voice again. “But…almost. We only kissed.”

 

“Hm!! Okay. You have to tell me everything. Beginning to end.” She rested her palms on the table and became laughably attentive.

 

When it came to talking about his time with Bruce, Clark was more than happy to dwell on all the details. So once he finally garnered some control, he told her everything. How they cuddled on his first night there as he nursed his bad ankle to health. How he didn’t fight the rutting Alpha off that Friday afternoon when he started his heat out of nowhere, despite fighting off Alphas becoming a natural reaction of his. And finally the kiss. In between everything, Clark didn’t leave out the mystery of how the heat suppressants he took were to no avail when Bruce was around.

 

Lois fidgeted in her seat excitedly and said in a low giggling tune. “The suppressant medicine not working is weird. Now I don’t want to read too much into that but it sounds like you guys are soul mates. Remember the story you told me your mom told you during your first heat.”

 

Clark wrinkled his eyebrows and frowned. “Nah. That was a feel good tale.” He negated.

 

“Oh come on! It kinda sounds like it. Or maybe I just want that to be the case because it sounds like a fairy tale.” She said laughing.

 

“You think we’re soul mates?” Clark asked the question contemplating it seriously now.

 

Lois shrugged and slurped more of her tea. “I mean. Stranger things have happened.”

 

Clark smiled. He was smiling because it was ridiculous, but what else could explain his heat pills working wonderfully all of the sudden for the first time now that he and Bruce were separated by great a distance. Oh this was just fantasy. Perhaps he too wanted his love life to sound like a fairy tale. He certainly wouldn’t say no to a ‘happily ever after’ ending with Bruce.

 

“It would be nice.” Clark decided. “He would then be like, _my_ Alpha?” Clark questioned dreamingly.

 

A shiver went down his spine. _My Alpha_. Pleasure notes dinged through him as he repeated _my Alpha_ in his head over and over. Bruce, his Alpha. His Alpha he was ready to love. Whom he wanted to please, be mated by, knotted by, give so many children to…

 

“Clark? I need you here and not off in dream land.” Lois snapped her fingers in front of his day dreaming face.

 

He blinked, shaking the musings off. Most of the time, he would despise having such thoughts but now those thoughts felt so right. Now, he embraced them. He was biting his lip rather aggressively as they went round in his head again.

 

“Soul mates!” She exclaimed again. “He’s your prince Clark, I know it.”

 

Clark giggled. “I don’t know Lo. I mean, okay.  Since the night I laid my eyes on him, the immediate connection I had to him was sort of…cosmic? Like the universe _wanted_ me to have him…And my body felt really comfortable around him and…And when I was in heat, I wanted _him_. Just him. That’s not normal without a bond Lo!”

 

Oh the necessary evidence was there but it was all superstitious to him. He was sure there was an explanation to the phenomenon. However, he couldn’t erase the fact that it was all fairly curious indeed.

 

Lois watched Clark brighten with happiness before her and more than rejoiced at how excited the Omega was about Bruce. The attraction he had to the Alpha must be a strong one, she thought. More than a simple crush.

 

"Speaking of bond.” She said. “Why didn’t he mate you? Did he think you were unwilling?” She stood up to rinse her empty mug in the kitchen sink quickly and returned to the table to hear Clark’s answer.

 

Clark fumbled with his fingers nervously. "Oh I’m very willing. I think…I want him but he’s…complicated.”

 

Lois laughed, making Clark laugh also. “It’s never _not_ complicated with you. I hope he does claim you. You seem to _really_ like him.”

 

“Is it too obvious?” Clark joked.

 

Lois snickered. “You deserve a little heaven amid the hell you’ve been through.” She said.

 

She slid her hands across the table and took his hands in hers. She squeezed them tightly and asked. “It’s getting kinda late, did you want me to stay over?"

 

Clark untangled a hand from hers and finished his drink, nodding quickly. “Please do. I hate being alone.” He chuckled in embarrassment but Lois assured his hate for loneliness was human nature.

 

As they prepped for bed, Clark called his mother while he waited for Lois to be done with her shower. However, with each call, the line kept going to her voicemail. In light of the recent murder which happened in Gotham over him, he panicked and imagined the worst to have had happened to her.  He glanced at the time, it was past 11pm and his mother always went to bed before then.  And she was a heavy sleeper. With a sigh, he called again and this time left a voicemail.

 

By this time, Lois finished with her shower and Clark immediately took one of his own. He was tired and wanted nothing more than a good rest. As he finished cleaning himself, he put on his own body fitting sleepwear for the first time in a while; sweat pants, and a plain black v-neck shirt.

 

For a moment, he missed wearing the usual boxer shorts and oversized T-shirts from Bruce’s wardrobe. He had a pair with him that he was allowed to bring with him however, but he missed his own so he stayed in those.

 

When he exited the bathroom, Lois was already snoring away on her side of the bed. He wasn’t surprised one bit, he knew he tired her out. It had been a long day for the both of them. Approaching the bed quietly, he muttered, “Goodnight Lois.” Before closing his eyes, and laying his head on his pillow, taking everything in with a smile on his face. He told himself to go off into a thoughtless sleep, pushing all of his looming troubles into the back of his head.

 

 

* * *

Clark woke up from his nightmare, sweating heavily with the room spinning and feeling extremely hot. His heart was pounding seriously in his chest as if he’d just finished a grueling work out session. But rather that his body feels good despite the pains of the workout, he felt muzzy and sensed something was very wrong.

 

Catching his breath, he pulled the covers away from his body with odd struggle. The nightmare he’d just had involved Bruce and was unlike any nightmare he’d had. Clark rarely remembers his dreams even when he’d wake up to them in a daze as he did just now.

 

But this one he remembered fully and so vividly. Two faceless and unknown men had Bruce’s arms in chains in an unfamiliar warehouse beating answers out of him. They’d hit him in the head each time he refused to answer the questions or they kicked him in the chest whilst having a machine pull his arms up forcefully through the chains.

 

And as Clark was now sat on the bed, recalling the nightmare, regions where’d he’d seen Bruce getting hit in from the nightmare began to ache on his own body. His head stung, his chest burned, and his arms felt strained and abused.

 

Alarmed by this, he rolled off the bed and hobbled to the bathroom avoiding waking Lois up. As he turned on the light, he took his shirt off in front of the mirror to see if his body showed what he felt but he looked fine. No new bruises. His chest remained hairless and scar-less aside from a few fading ones around his pecs.

 

He shook with an eerie fear that left him to wonder whether he was still perhaps stuck in his nightmare. And so, to really wake himself up, he turned on the cold water in the sink and splashed his face with it. The cool weather outside made the water especially cold and the temperature stung his skin, rousing him fully.

 

He turned off the water and sighed into the mirror observing his reflection silently. When he closed his eyes, he experienced another shocking vision of Bruce. Clark's eyes sprung open as he gasped and grabbed onto the sink to catch himself. Unlike his nightmare, this time, Clark saw blood. Lots of it.

 

But what really terrified him was Bruce’s scream. He could not only hear it, but could _feel_ it as if _he_ was the one truly screaming. The screech was deafening and rang in his ears sounding far off but at the same time all around him.

 

As it echoed out in his head, Clark's breath came out short, erratic and he sped out of the bathroom after suddenly feeling suffocated by being in it. He went into the living room, to the kitchen counter, and grabbed the phone with a trembling hand. Trying to catch his breath, he proceeded to dial the number Alfred had given to him in case of an emergency.


	9. Shallow Play

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Clark, scared and panicked, calls Alfred and tells him about his nightmare turned vision of Bruce getting tortured by unknown men. As Alfred tries to calm Clark's nerves, he later becomes nervous himself after tracking the Alpha down from the bat computer, leads to an alarming revelation.

From even the least scary of Clark’s nightmares, an episode of extreme panic is rarely avoided after being woken by them. Sometimes it was justified by the magnitude and grotesque nature of the dream and sometimes it was his body’s way of showing readiness to defend itself against these evils should they appear to exist outside of his head. But Clark’s recent nightmare was very different. He was wide awake and yet still experienced its horrors driving his panic to an outstanding and alarming level.

 

And as he sat tremulously on the cold floor of the dining room, he knew not exactly if he was calling Alfred to check if Bruce was alright or rather to receive some comfort. Or much better, a taste of a familiar reality that would snap him from this seemingly never ending nightmare.

 

Dialing numbers on a keypad of a phone has never been a more difficult task as he worked to control his trembling hands. Twice his shaking led to the phone being dropped to the floor making a loud ‘Crack!’ sound that caused the Omega to jump in worry that the ruckus might have roused the sleeping Lois. On the third attempt, dialing the number was successful and he pressed the phone to his ears still shaking. The steady ring, ring did, for now, the impossible; it was calming Clark’s panic. On the fifth ring, did Alfred finally answer.

 

“Everything alright Master Kent?” Asked the butler.

 

Clark hesitated before answering; struggling to form his syllables and get them out. As expected in his state, his stutter was hindering him again and it was all the worse while speaking into a phone.

 

“B-B-Bruce.” is all Clark managed to say with a great deal of effort.

 

He balled up his left fist in frustration that that was all he could manage.

 

Nevertheless Alfred was very patient with him, understanding his struggle. He helped Clark relax by advising him to settle as best he could, his erratic panting breaths. Clark did so and remembered a technique he learned in therapy to help him get his words out. He tapped his right thigh lightly in a rhythm that matched the syllables of the words he wanted to say as he said them. He did this until the words were flowing freely out of his mouth, bar a few missteps, without even thinking about it.

 

Now able to speak freely, Clark told Alfred all about his nightmare and how he saw Bruce in a great deal of hurt from unknown harmers. Hearing it all come out of his mouth was when Clark realized how utterly ridiculous it all sounded. However, to him, it was very frightening. A serious warning almost. He couldn’t bring himself to shake it off as a bad nightmare.

 

“Some nightmares we have can stay_” Alfred began to answer.

 

“No.” Clark disagreed quietly, interrupting. He took deep breaths and again explained into the phone. “I _know_ nightmares, but I swear Alfred, I _heard_ him after I was awake and saw him. Th-they were hurting him and he’s in pain and I felt it t-too!_” He caught his breath. “I don’t know what’s g-going on Alfred, this is scary.”

 

The Omega produced a chocked sob and bowed his head trying to muffle his whimpers, still shaken from his visions.

 

On the other line, Clark could hear Alfred sigh, thoughtfully. His legs trembled impatiently waiting for Alfred to respond, but just as his impatience got the better of him, Alfred spoke again easing it back down.

 

“Would you like for me to check on Bruce to ease your fears?” Alfred asked.

 

Clark said ‘yes’ before Alfred had even finished the question and after a moment Clark could hear what sounded like fingers tapping on a keyboard, very quickly and urgently.

 

A moment passed and Alfred muttered “Well I’ll be…” more to himself than to Clark.

 

“What d-does that mean?” Clark whispered biting the inside of his cheek nervously.

 

More fingers tapping on keyboard, then a sigh. “Just a moment.” Alfred said.

 

After some time, Alfred was able to locate Bruce from the only device the older man took with him that could be tracked, one small camera lens disguised as an eye contact.  The gadget hadn’t been used in years but Alfred was glad Bruce wore it for tonight’s mission as it had a tracker equipped to it. Bruce usually didn’t carry many helpful gadgets with him whilst in disguise out of the suit. 

 

While Alfred did find him via the tracker, there was one troubling problem. The tracker in the lens was disabled. Deactivated a little more than an hour ago at an un-named location near Arkham City. There had been no recent response or communication attempts from the billionaire after the disconnection like what would typically occur if Bruce wanted to check in with Alfred to assure he was alright.

 

Strange. He knew the billionaire would run into some trouble without the tech protection of the suit. Relying solely on his combat skills, martial arts techniques, was all the older man had for safety and while he was very good at those, they aren’t enough this far into his career.

 

The butler sat back on the adjustable chair and pondered in deep thought to the revelation. The red text of ‘no signal’ flashed from the monitor screen reflecting across his frowning face in the dim light. The older man could be anywhere. A lot could have happened in that hour before the disconnection. No longer in his rookie years, this was most unusual of a situation for Bruce Wayne. Now, Alfred became a little nervous himself.

 

“Hm.” He sounded.

 

Clark fidgeted with nerve again. That sounded like a bad ‘Hm’ not a contemplative or eureka ‘Hm’ to him.

 

“Wh-what is it Alfred?” He asked.

 

“I’ve found his location. He’s near Arkham City. He should be fine. He’s _most_ familiar with the area.” Alfred answered as confidently as he could.

 

There was an inflection of uncertainty from the answer that made the color drain from Clark’s face as his heart beat drummed in horror. Was Alfred lying to him? Bruce _was_ in danger after-all? Whatever was pushing that warning at Clark through the visions was more than convincing to the Omega now. Forget that it was bizarre.

 

Alfred, guessing Clark’s silence was that of dread, very quickly reassured. “Bruce can take care of himself Clark. He’s alright.”  

 

But as Alfred said the words aloud, he knew they’d have no effect on the Omega as they weren’t even having an effect on him. Everything about the situation spelled danger but he didn’t want Clark involved.

 

“Are y-you sure Alfred? He’s okay?” Clark asked feeling he might have falsely accused the Beta. “If he’s…lost, m-maybe these visions I’m having will help me t-to find him. I c-can maybe track him by his scent wh_”

 

“No.” Alfred interrupted him sternly. “You remain in danger and the last thing for you to do is leave the confines of your safety to be in the vicinity of that danger. Bruce does this type of stuff all the time. He’s not in trouble. Clark, you’ve been through enough. A good night’s sleep is all you need to be worrying about. I promise you Master Wayne is alright.”

 

Clark held his breath and put on a faux calmed voice. “You’re right. S-s-sorry for the disturbance.”

 

Alfred huffed out a laugh. “Oh it’s no disturbance at all. I’m glad you called. You were afraid because of a very vivid and horrible nightmare you experienced involving Bruce. That’s quite scary. Worthy of a check in. That’s what the number was for.”

 

Clark sniffled and replied after a few seconds of hesitation. “Right. The vis_ _nightmare_ just really sss-scared me is all. I should g-get back to sleep now. Goodbye Alfred…and th-thank you.” And with that, Alfred said his goodbye prompting Clark to hang up immediacy after.

 

The British man let out a huge sigh of relief. _That_ was one looming problem out of the way. Visions. His curiosity was struck by the  _visions_ Clark kept speaking of but not enough to push him to query the Omega on _how_ he was having such visions. Nevertheless, it was extraordinary that Clark’s sensing Bruce was in trouble was panning out. And especially curious as Bruce never claimed the Omega to form a bond that would bring about a similar sort of phenomenon. Shifting his concerns back to Bruce, Alfred shrugged off the mystery behind Clark's visions.

 

More important matters needed to be given attention. Bruce was in some sort of trouble near Arkham in need of help so Alfred needed to find him. He himself wasn’t fit enough to go out into such a troubled area he was barely familiar with, so he was out of the question to go find the Bruce. Who could Alfred turn to this late into the night to help find this suicidal of a billionaire?...

 

* * *

 

_Downtown Gotham_

 

Traveling a little past Gotham’s busy metropolitan area (ignoring the turn leading to its dangerous underground), one finds themselves in a Victorian looking quartier where historical sights and tourist attractions such as the Gotham City museum, the Wayne Memorial Clock Tower,  the Gotham Town Hall, and much more make up for most of the town’s style. Downtown Gotham however, is also home to its more popular and ‘safest’ of apartment complexes to dwell in.

 

During the cold and dire darkness of a stormy night in Gotham, most if not all of the citizens in the downtown multiple storied apartments were in deep sleep. All but one, Dick Grayson, who was still going over the notes of an upcoming crucial lab exam he would be taking next week for a biology class he was taking at Bludhaven University.

 

Given that the university he attended was an hour or more away (depending on the traffic), it wasn’t common that he came to Gotham to stay over at his girlfriend’s, Barbara Gordon, apartment. But whenever he would get the time, he’d visit her in Gotham as she did the same when she had the time as well. Their relationship remained and grew this way despite being a distance away for the most part.

 

Sitting at the small study desk located in the corner or the small but homey living room, Dick was startled awake from a creeping slumber as a quick white light illuminated the room as a loud crack settling into a low rumble sounded right after the flash. The tirade of rain water droplets tapping the roofs and glass windows awoke him fully.

 

He yawned and took another sip of his now cold coffee to stay awake. He had been up enough to become a little delirious but that was not enough to push him to close his eyes and rest as Barbara pestered him to do so two hours ago. And as another flash of white light from the lightning illuminated the living room, he yawned again and thought it time that he give in to his fatigue.

 

As he was on his way to bed, his phone rang on the study table stopping him in his tracks. Puzzled by who would call him so late in the night, he flipped the phone over and emitted an audible, “whoa” as Alfred’s name glowed on the screen.

 

Answering, he said. “Long time no talk. I can only imagine a call this late from you means Bruce is either dead or almost dead.” He chuckled at his own dry quip.

 

Alfred did not find it very funny however and sighed. Regretting the joke, Grayson became serious and apologized with a solemn tone.

 

“Sorry. I’m really tired…but he’s okay right?” he asked worriedly.

 

No matter how distant he had become from Bruce, the man still raised him and housed him assuring he grew up loved and cared for.  Dick decided to make light of his impending death, was uncalled for.

 

“No need for the apology, it’s not as if Bruce has strayed from bringing that day upon him ever so closer. I need your help if you are in Gotham. He’s disappeared…I can only hope he’s okay wherever he is.”

 

“Disappeared?” Dick asked with his voice cracking with concern. The serious nature of the call pulled him out of his weariness completely. He was now stood in front of the window looking upon the stormy and dreary view outside.

 

“He went on a mission sans the bat suit that has landed him in trouble most likely, somewhere in Arkham. I can’t track his position and need someone fit and knowledgeable of the area to find him. Sorry if the call is so abrupt.” Alfred explained.

 

“Don’t worry about it and I am in Gotham. You don’t even need to say more about the dumb move of him not wearing the suit. Bruce is still a piece of work as I see. I’ll help.”

 

Alfred smiled, quite surprised that despite Dick’s seldom visits to the manor to see Bruce, he was more than willing to help. “Huh, I didn’t think it would be so easy to get your help especially so late. One thing Bruce has done well for himself was raising you right.”

 

Dick snorted. “It’s no problem, Bruce is frustrating but he’d do the same for me. And I’d blame my parents’ genes for my saint like generosity and perfect of an attitude, but sure it’s all Papa Bruce.”

 

Dick’s heart lifted as he heard the faintest of a laugh from Alfred on the other line.

 

“Touché. Can you bring yourself to the manor or will I need to offer you a ride? This storm is quite a heavy one.”

 

“Actually a ride would be great. Still got my suit by the way?” Dick asked, smiling from ear to ear.

 

Alfred chuckled. “Always.”

 

* * *

 

First time setting foot in the Bat cave in a very long time, Dick Grayson felt an elation of nostalgic contentment but also contempt for how the place now only sucked the life right out of Bruce. Making his way to Bruce’s main area of operation, he observed the various monitors showing displays from Gotham City news broadcast to live Wayne Satellite footage. The eye-catching ‘no signal’ flash from the main computer attracted Dick’s eyes the most.

 

“So this is where he is?” He asked observing the coordinates of the location.

 

“It’s where I hope he is as I don’t want to send you deep into Arkham this late should you not find him here. But either way, this spells bad news. If he’s at this particular location, with the tracker disconnected, and he hasn’t attempted to contact me then_”

 

“He could be trapped…or worse.” Dick finished Alfred’s thoughts, running a hand through his coal black hair.

 

Alfred nodded slowly in visible worry. “I’m afraid so.”

 

“And you said this has to do with that huge Omega slave ring they busted a few nights ago right?” Dick asked for clarification.

 

“Indeed.”

 

Dick sighed, took his attention away from the monitor and to the architect of the cave and its surrounding contents. He thought of how the weathered rocks encircling the cave catching the little droplets of water from the sporadic erections of small to vast waterfalls and _gloomy_ look of the facility paralleled Bruce’s weathered, and gloomy soul as he continued on this obsessive never ending war on crime.

 

“I’m going to go ahead and guess this cave fits him so perfectly nowadays it’s not even funny Alfred?” He commented.

 

Alfred laughed. “Are you on about the plethora of monitors which give him his daily dose of problems to solve and the seclusion? Yes, indeed it does. I’m afraid what I’ve tried to do to get him away from this place for a mere day has not been very successful.”

 

Dick frowned. “So he’s just gotten worse since then?”

 

Alfred didn’t even need for Dick to clarify what event the ‘since then’ alluded to. “I’m afraid he has. Still truly believe it’s his fault and still continues to punish himself for it.”

 

Dick’s eyes darted behind him and toward the top corner of the cave, where the display of Jason Todd’s burned suit hung in a glass case. As a hurtful and unfair reminder of the family he lost. Bruce stares at that case every day, he assumes. He can’t imagine what that can do to a man who already feels as if he were the one who had the crowbar in hand that night, beating the life out of a child.

 

Alfred saw Dick’s attention drawn to Jason’s suit and said. “I’d advise you don’t look at that too much. I don’t want you to become like Bruce. It seems the more he stares at the suit, the more the altruistic and intelligent aspects of his personality disappears.”

 

Dick looked away, shook his head, and hung it low fighting back tears. It was overwhelmingly emotional to be back with a chance to see how Bruce has been doing without him. As it sunk in that the man who played the role of his father, and still does, was still punishing himself over something he had no control over…it hurt. Perhaps one reason it hurt the most, was that Dick left Bruce to allow him to do this to himself.

 

“I’m so sorry Alfred.” He whispered with his eyes shut tight and fists clenched.

 

Alfred’s tired eyes widened in confusion. “For what? I hope you don’t blame yourself also for all of this. This is all on Bruce. He’s more than capable of making rational decisions in his life.”

 

Dick still hung his head low, afraid that if he looked up again, nothing but tears would rain down his face. “I know that but he clearly needs help. This isn’t healthy. The last thing anyone like this needs in their life, is to lose support.”

 

Alfred himself felt close to tears as the young man but was so much used to this that they didn’t come. They couldn’t come. He’d cried enough for Bruce since the man lost his parents. The butler pulled Grayson into a hug.

 

“He won’t ever lose support. I’ll never give up on him even if he’ll inevitably start hating me for it.”

 

At this point, the old and suppressed emotions overwhelming Grayson got the better of him and his shoulders shook violently in Alfred’s arms as tears flew freely down his face. Alfred patted the young man on the back in comfort while offering his shoulder to cry on.

 

They stood in front of Jason’s suit display, embraced in a silence occasionally disturbed by a small sob from Dick. After what felt like an eternity, they pulled away as Dick sniffled, wiping away his tears. He doesn’t think he’s cried like that since the circus accident he witnesses his parents undergo at a very young age. He needed it.

 

Alfred looked into Dick’s blue eyes, now liquid and bloodshot. “It’s never a bad thing to cry it out.”

 

Dick forced a smile and sniffled. “Babs says the same thing.”

 

Alfred returned a genuine smiled offering him a tissue. “She’s a keeper that one.”

 

“Yea, speaking of Babs, she wasn’t thrilled about me doing this so she says she’ll have your ass if I get hurt.” Dick joked, feeling rejuvenated after the cry.

 

Over near the computers, Alfred chuckled. “You’re in good hands.” He then pushed a button that reversed the connected row of monitors over to reveal three clean and kept suits.

 

They were, the old dark grey and navy blue suit Bruce donned in his rookie years, the black suit displaying the cobalt blue symbol of a bird near the chest of the attire, and the dark grey (quite violent looking) and sharp black suit Bruce wore currently. Beside each suit were the usual gadgets of grapple hooks, grappling guns, and batarang.

 

But there were also gadgets, especially next to Bruce’s current suit, that were new to Dick Grayson. A machine gun like gadget labeled as a ‘smoke bomb launcher’ elevated Dick’s suspicion. But what really got his attention was a rather ominous iron carved Bat symbol that didn’t mimic the look of any batarang he was familiar with. Furthermore, there was a handle on the back of the structure as well hinting it was more manual than a batarang or any throwing device would be.

 

“What is that thing?” Dick asked curiously observing the object from all angles.

 

Alfred hesitated to answer as he didn’t like to talk about the new branding Bat as it was the absolute least favorite of the violent weapons Bruce came to own. Suddenly, a holographic message of company at Wayne manor’s doors projected itself from the main computer, alerting both Dick and Alfred. They looked at each other in alarm and confusion.

 

Alfred furrowed his brow and opened his mouth to ask Dick if anyone had been following them when he picked him up from the apartment but Dick, whom was already reading Alfred’s incoming query quickly answered.

 

“No one followed us. I checked every five minutes the entire route. Plus the streets are almost deserted. Even the homeless and drunks have taken shelter from the storm.”

 

Alfred’s eyes widened in astonishment as the hologram informed that whoever was at the manor’s doors had now made their way around the manor, to the back, where they began knocking at the double black doors in a specific coded manner that only Bruce knew of and did whenever he’d return from an operation. But that the mysterious intruder didn’t think to try the back doors first, told Alfred this was not Bruce Wayne.

 

“Oh dear me.”


	10. Dark And Stormy Morning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alfred and Dick receive familiar visitors at Wayne Manor after dark.

Clark and Lois both stood shivering on the doorsteps of Wayne manor waiting for any being, to answer to their knocks.  Lois had just joined Clark by the door after deciding against her courteous instincts to park her car on the gravel drive way at the front of the manor. She was worried of not respecting the property and parking it anywhere inappropriate but quite frankly, she was new to mansions and was overwhelmed by its grand territory and the heavy cold rain made it very difficult to keep one’s sense of being polite.

 

Bit by bit however, the thunderous rain was drowning down to almost a lazy murmur of rain drops, falling softly like a raspy whisper over Gotham City. Falling to a lull over the seemingly inhabited Wayne Manor. If the mansion was an already eerie looking one on any still and quiet blue night, the atmosphere it gave rise to on this rainy night was quite a disquieting one. When the lightning flashed upon the big Victorian architecture, for mere seconds, it took on the form of every daunting ‘haunted’ house ever imagined in old vampire horror novels or short Romanticist stories of horror underlying. It took on the look of a tower with no trace of any luminescence which in turn augmented the forbidding abandoned aesthetics of the place.

 

“Creepy place.” Lois muttered scooting closer to Clark for warmth. Her wet hair matted to her red cheeks and forehead.

 

“It’s r-really n-nice inside.” Clark responded. At this point, his stuttering was brought on more by the cold. Unlike Lois, who at least had somewhat of a heavy coat on, Clark only wore a thin raincoat over the black t-shirt he wore for bed tonight. It wasn’t a very cozy protection against the cool night.

 

“I-I hope he’s here.” The young man added, taking his attention back to knocking on the door. “I…” He paused with a sigh and said nothing more.

 

His sudden and continuous pause prompted Lois to turn her head to him and try to read the expression on his face through the foggy darkness. She couldn’t see him clearly but the quick series of short breaths coming from his chattering mouth said more than his expression could.

 

“I'm sure the man is fine.” She reassured mumbling. “Bruce is okay.”

 

Try as she might, her tone was flat without the optimistic overlay Clark needed to hear. But Lois couldn’t help it. She had no way of knowing how Bruce was. She didn’t even know if Clark’s visions truly were something to be worried about. So far there was no proof of Bruce being in danger other than whatever tormented the young man through the medium of ‘visions’.

 

Their discussion over coming to Gotham so late in the night was a tense one and Lois would never forget the look of Clark when he begged her to take him to Gotham. He didn’t own a car but Lois did. She remembers looking into his insistent and trembling optics, paralyzed with a potent realization that there weren’t any actions or words that she could have used against Clark to get him to him to change his mind about his plans to essentially put himself into more danger. After the exchange, there was no negating that Bruce Wayne meant more to the Omega than she could have guessed. It was almost eerie. And on top of all of that, she was still wrapping her head around the fact that Bruce Wayne was the famous Batman.  The entire day that she had with Clark went on like a strange out of body to her and it can only get stranger from here if this pattern of events persisted.

 

“Oh!” gasped Clark suddenly when he heard a faint shuffling of a being from beyond the door.

 

He took a step back as he picked up the sound of a click of a light switch, footsteps, and then finally the big black doors slowly went ajar. Clark squinted reacting to the bright light while Alfred gave him a quick furrowed brow look in reaction to his glasses. He hadn’t expected for the Omega to be in glasses.

 

“Oh th-thank god you’re home!” Clark gasped in relief.

 

The butler simply stared blankly upon the water droplets on the Omega’s specs until Lois Lane stepped into the frame as the doors further swung opened. She startled Alfred a little, causing him to flinch and apologized shortly upon seeing his reaction.

 

“Y-you took forever! It’s f-freezing!” Clark chattered again. “L-let us in p-please.”

 

“Well I was never expecting visitors at this hour.” Alfred said, emphatically wording ‘visitors’ as he begrudgingly invited Clark and Lois in. “But please, do come in.”

 

Clark heeded and Lois followed behind him, smiling sheepishly at the gray haired butler who eyed her suspiciously, silently questioning the full extent of her knowledge of the situation at hand. Inside the corridor, Clark had failed to see Dick Grayson, standing tall by the mahogany coat rack near the door on his right. Grayson’s appearance frightened Clark stopping him dead in his tracks. On instinct, Lois also stopped.

 

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you.” Dick said, chuckling a little at the awkward developing situation. He extended out a nervous hand to greet Clark, fascinated to be meeting a male Omega for the first time in his life. “Dick Grayson.”

 

Clark never took his eyes off Dick and boy did they gaze into them scanning his face with growing terror. Dick’s scent set off alarms in Clark’s head without warning, taking him back to sinister places. Back to his enslavement.  Clark hadn’t known just how augmented his fear of Alphas had become since his freedom from those horrible days.

 

All this time, he thought he could handle being around them since he was more than comfortable with Bruce. Clark hadn’t realized he wasn’t breathing until calming hands enveloped his shoulders, guiding him away from a confusedly guilt ridden Dick to the couch in the living room. Lois offered Clark a glass of water from the kitchen and Clark gulped it down while Alfred tried to re-introduce Dick to him.

 

Alfred cleared his throat nervously. “This is Dick Grayson. A good friend of Bruce. “ Dick, now standing a distant away from Clark by the fireplace waved slowly. He guessed Clark would be wary of his being an Alpha but was not prepared for such a reaction.

 

Clark gulped apprehensively, nodding in the way of the Alpha, but his demeanor still communicated discomfort despite Alfred’s answer. In fact, to even take Alfred’s word for it after it was becoming more apparent that the butler really had lied about Bruce’s status was something Clark felt heart broken by to say the least.

 

“You’re not a g-good liar by the way Alfred.” Clark spoke after he had finished all of the content in his glass of water and was breathing again. “I’d know because I’m not as well.”

 

Clark’s words were followed by silence inside the living room save the spookily human like howling of the cool wind outside.

 

“Clark, it’s very dangerous for you to bring yourself back here.” Alfred responded. There was a loud spark of fire from the fireplace that seemed to concur with Alfred’s warning.

 

Clark’s brows furrowed while his lips curved into a serious frown. “Did you talk t-to him recently? Where is he?”

 

Everyone save for Lois was stumped by Clark’s sudden serious and blunt tone. Dick and Alfred had not expected such an innocent face to be able to twist into one almost as intimidating as Bruce Wayne’s, notorious for pulling that trademark watchful and severe look quite naturally.

 

Sensing the latent tension between Alfred and Clark, Lois sought to distract herself from it by admiring the expansive and vintage look of the manor while Dick, who now stood by the fireplace, often glanced at Clark, with a growing curiosity of the extent of the Omega’s relationship with Bruce.

 

Bruce wasn’t one to make friends with the people he’d rescue as Batman. But Alfred had told him Bruce made his identity known to the Omega on the night of the sex ring coupe. Like Bruce, Dick thought that to be pretty unusual of the Alpha. And Clark wasn’t a child; a demographic Bruce sometimes showed his face to ease their fears of the cowl. It made sense in such a situation.

 

While Clark and Alfred went on about Bruce almost in a whisper now for whatever reason, Dick shifted the subject of his curiosity to Clark’s visions. He noted how Alfred had informed him that Bruce hadn’t claimed the Omega so that Clark was claiming to sense Bruce in distress was a point of contention. It wasn’t malicious, Dick noted, but it was odd. The mystery of it sent a chill up his spine but stranger things have happened.

 

“I want to help find him too!” Clark’s voice came out in a shrill surprising Dick out of his thoughts. “I can…I think I could be able to find him through his scent. I can smell him! I-I know his scent. I can’t explain it but I know it!” The Omega confessed with moderate folly.

 

This was an impossibility for Omegas not claimed by said Alpha whose scent they could pick up so predictably enough, Alfred was struck surprised and immediately rejected the idea. “I cannot allow you to go out there.”

 

Alfred paused after his refusal and shot a look over to Dick for help. Dick shrugged his shoulders a little and decided to answer. “No harm in getting some extra help.”

 

Clark’s brow knitted in Dick’s direction hinting a small expression of appreciation for the support. Dick smiled, relieved that he was bit by bit getting on the Omega’s good side. Clark was harmless. While Dick had yet to understand whatever it was that was going on with Clark and Bruce, he understood without a doubt that the Omega cared for Bruce. That he was passionate for him. Where the origin of such a passion came from wasn’t important, Dick decided. Finding Bruce Wayne was. And if Clark really could do what he was claiming he could do, this whole ordeal would be less stressful on him.

 

“If Clark is doing anything remotely dangerous, I’m going along. Or at least, you’re letting me monitor his or your every move.” Lois announced about of the blue as she focused her attention back onto the conversation.

 

Alfred shot Clark a glare that made the Omega feel a pang of guilt. “There was no way to keep anything from her Alfred. Gosh, she would have found it all out eventually.” He defended himself.

 

Alfred blinked tiredly and Clark saw the exact moment the butler gave up in the way that his eyes perused the room lazily as he motioned for everyone else to follow him to Bruce’s study room. Clark was curious as to what the room could hold of value in relation to finding Bruce Wayne but once the butler fiddled with the grandfather clock, setting it to a specific time, his jaw dropped in surprise as he turned his head towards the click and the creaking of the old bookcase rotating to reveal a dark and narrow entrance.

 

“God, I so want to document and write about this.” Lois commented in a low shaky excited voice. “Imagine the headline.”

 

Clark snickered a little at her excitement. He was glad he brought her with him. There’s no knowing how he would have coped with his life thus far without her levity and kindness towards him.

 

“It would be to everyone’s benefit and extremely wise if you didn’t document this for the headlines Ms. Lane.” Alfred warned in a low voice. “Now, would you please follow me.”

 

Alfred went into the entrance leading the way followed by Clark, Lois, and finally Dick who pressed a button from the inside of the entrance to close the secret entrance. In the darkness, Clark heard curious squeaks which were soon to be revealed to be coming from a nest of bats above them!

 

“Are we in a cave?” His voice echoed in the dark tunnel.

 

To answer that question, an architect full underground cave a lot better equipped than its environment should allow came into view. The cave was so aw inspiring that it rendered Clark mute while Alfred gestured them to the center of the room where laid a massive set of computer screens. There the butler relayed to Clark wherein they believed Bruce’s location to be but without certainty that the Alpha remained in said location. Clark had a plethora of questions circling in his head as Alfred explained everything to him. Why had Bruce done this? Why did he go in a disguise that gave him little protection? Was this a habit of his? How much does this all cost?! Is this legal?

 

“I wish you’d take my advice and not put yourself in danger but seeing that I won’t talk you out of it, I’ll allow Dick to explain to you the plan to search Bruce out.” Alfred announced, his voice echoed along with the steady flow of the waterfalls around them. “Ms. Lane, you’ll be with me here in the cave while we make sure we keep contact with Clark and Grayson while they’re out in Alrkham. The location has always been a strangely tricky one to keep a steady signal in but with Wayne Tech, we can find ways around it.”

 

Clark sucked in a nervous breath and looked over to Grayson with the same aura of discomfort. “Well?”

 

Dick cleared his throat and pressed a button from the computer’s keyboard which prompted the big display of the monitors to rotate revealing the encased suits. It took no excessive sensitiveness to the cave’s impressive advanced tech accessories to make Clark openly gasp at the unfamiliar but well-crafted suits before him. Seeing that Clark’s eyes were fixated on them, Dick took advantage of the moment to quickly examine Clark’s body type and decide which suit the Omega would be more fit on him. Seeing that the original plan had changed, wherein he would have sought out Bruce in his Nightwing suit, it looked like Clark would be better off in that particular suit. Dick would then have to be the Batman.

 

“Do you mind getting suited up?” Dick asked, interrupting Clark’s aw struck spell.

 

“Y-yea.” Clark mumbled. “Sure.”

 

And thus, the pair got ready and equipped in the assigned suits, Clark in Nightwing’s suit and Dick in Bruce’s main Batman suit. The young Alpha then explained to Clark some ways to use the Excerima Sticks for defense or offence and how the Omega could even use the weapons on him should he feel that he was becoming threatening.

 

“I know you don’t seem very trusting of me, which is very understandable, so it’s okay to.” Dick said sincerely.

 

Clark appreciated the suggestion and felt a little bad for feeling distrusting of Dick in the beginning. But seeing that he had something to defend himself made him feel more confident about their ordeal. And behind Bruce’s cowl, Dick looked almost like the Alpha and that curiously rendered Clark a bit less mistrusting of the Dick.

 

“I won’t use it on y-you.” Clark said with a nervous chuckle. “I think I can trust you.”

 

“Okay.” Dick smiled. “Ready?” Dick asked Clark after all was done with their equipment and with their plan on how they’d locate Bruce.

 

“I think so.” Clark answered. Everything about this was miles out of his comfort zone. Extravagant suits, expensive sci-fi movie-like weapons, and secret lairs? But for Bruce, Clark indulged himself in all of the bizarreness.

 

Immediate after Clark’s answer, a loud mechanical noise sounded from behind where he and Grayson were standing and parked on its usual rounded elevated platform, the Batmobile ascended up in their view, gull winged doors ajar with a roar of it’s engine almost in a show of a primal hunger and preparation for a road trip.

 

“Let’s ride.” Dick said with a cheerful smile to ease Clark, who was started on at the car anxiously.

 

* * *

 

_Arkham_

 

Ward Area number 13 lied upon the inhabited and nearly entirely dilapidated area of east Arkham. It was an industrial area with roofless warehouses no longer storing manufactured goods but rather the dead carcasses of stray animals or even the remains of humans. Overlooking the famous psychiatric hospital, Arkham Asylum, there was not much curiosity among the few persons that lived in Arkham as to why the place was a forbidden haven for the sane. And while on the subject of the sanity, panning out into one of the warehouses, shadowed in dreary darkness save for one light source beaming from a flashlight, sees a scene subject of Bruce Wayne’s failure.

 

The unforeseen and horrible conclusion Bruce Wayne came to realize rather too late was more and more of a certainty by every passing second. Rarely, his mind was alarmingly confused by why this coming and dreadful end was so, his mind was also reluctant to swallow it up as absolute. At least without a fight. Even if it was a fight he was losing. Completely and continually losing. Hit by hit, punch by punch, he was not only losing the battle here but a war. And he knew it as he became self aware of the blood. The blood he was losing at a rate suitable for the unconscious or even the dead who have had to suffer a similar assault. And yet, there was still a sparkle of fuel left in the Alpha. One kept stored in his core by some unknown force counting on him to survive. By way of who or what, he didn’t know. But whatever was keeping him going, he was planning on exhausting the help. But this hurt. Grit his teeth to keep from screaming or clench his stomach to lessen the blows there as he might, in no circumstance could his body continue to take such abuse.

 

It had been the blow under his left collarbone on an old burn scar he obtained a few years back that really brought about the acceptance and realization of his nightmarish misfortune. Such a scream had never been emitted from the Alpha since that night. But thus far, screams, grunts, and insults were all Bruce thought his captives deserved out of him. He wished he could have reached his arms out to choke the Alpha that had donned the strike but they were compromised in chains by the wrists. The chains went on to wrap around a mechanical level above him which at one’s pull would yank his arms straight up causing him excruciating pain. It was juts his luck to have attracted the sadists types of Alphas.

 

“You sure can take a lot for an old man, old man.” One of them said as he spat in Bruce’s face. Rather Matches Malone’s.

 

In response, Bruce churned around in his mouth, blood and saliva then spat the mixture at the Alpha. The insulting act earned him a yank of the chains. Very surely, they were ready to break his arms out of their sockets in less than three yanks. Yet, Bruce would not submit nor would he lose without putting up quite the fight. Where there were, he knew his cries would be to no purpose. Though once Bruce realized the danger he was involving himself with, he had been suddenly too weak and a tad delirious to fight his captives off to keep them from restraining him. It was a shocking scuffle and a demeaning defeat following after.

 

But now here he was; him and the three Alphas that were now reveling at his tortured state. Well…and one more spectator had recently joined them.  Not in the warehouse. Not even on the ground. But whoever they were, it was...was watching. Bruce was not quite sure if the shadow perched atop one of the steel frame structure of an industrial structure across the warehouse in his frame had been that of a person but its outline fascinated him. It stayed still as one of Gotham's Gargoyle statues for some time and while the Alphas’s were questioning him, Bruce couldn't help but be prompted to train his curious eyes to look behind the Alphas in his face and far ahead to focus on the figure. Minutes had gone by with the older man doing this in the middle of more beatings and insults and just as Bruce was giving up examining the strange apparition, it moved. It was a quick movement of adjustment but it was enough to confirm it as human...

 

“Agh!” Bruce screamed in frustration as he was struck on the face suddenly, forcing him to lose his focus on the figure.

 

“Focus on us old man.” His abuser taunted. He looked behind him into the darkness to decipher what Bruce kept staring but scoffed to throw more insults at Bruce when he missed their stalker. "What the fuck is so fascinating about a dark and stormy morning to you huh?" 

 

Bruce did not answer him. These Alphas knew not of their mysterious stalker which led Bruce to guess whoever it was, was probably someone not associated with them. Ignoring more questions and insults as usual, Bruce glanced back to the mysterious percher, yearning for whoever it was to possibly be a helper. But his senses told him the watcher had different intentions given how long he allowed for Bruce to suffer.

 

“Talk!” Bruce took another hit. This time delivered to the chest as one of the Alphas screamed the command at him.

 

Bruce winced. It was just his luck that the Alpha he was under the hold of would be sadists, deriving most of their satisfaction from his pain than from retrieving any actual worthwhile information on Clark’s whereabouts.

 

“How…much info…do you think…I’ll be able to give you…if you keep at this?” Bruce struggled out in protest.

 

“We know you know him and where he is.” Zadd, the Alpha with the slash scar across his face said. “That pretty little boy’s got a lot of money on his head. Lex aint a cheepo and we want that doe.”

 

Bruce grunted and said nothing. He knows he can just say anything of Clark’s whereabouts and they would probably eat it up but he didn’t even want grant them the feel of false satisfaction. 

 

“Last chance or I will pull the trigger here.” Zadd said. “No playing this time. You’re done and gone already with your age. Like you, we're out of time soon too. No one will miss ya.”

 

Bruce sniveled, trying to speak. Breathing was causing him a lot more distress due to a broken rib. At this point, the hope that Alfred would sense his near demise before it was too late was slowly decreasing. As he glanced into the dark eyes of his soon to be killer, every complaint Alfred threw at him regarding the very situation he was in, danced around tauntingly in his head. He hates to admit it and will probably never get to find out the cause of his sudden episode of weakness that brought this upon him, but this mishap was the result of no fault but his own. Should he die like this however, it would be without the gratification of his captives. That was sure and final.

 

“Last. Chance.” Zadd said. The other two Alphas chuckled behind him, leering at Bruce in glee. His gun clicked and the nuzzle was once again nudged against Bruce’s wrinkled forehead.

 

Bruce stared unblinking at Zadd and growled with hacking effort. “Cowards.”

 

All three gasped audibly at the Alpha’s sound taunt and Bruce chuckled as he saw a moment of recalculation and hesitation in Zadd’s eyes and just as quick as the smirk appeared on the older man’s face, it disappeared as the squelching sound of steel bullet impacting into flesh sounded. Dead silence followed after and then Bruce’s unblinking eyes followed those of Zadd’s who coughed out blood before his optics shut as he swayed backwards to collapse down to the cold ground. The pistol lied unused near the dead man’s body.


	11. The Chasm

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dick and Clark become Batman and Robin in search for Bruce.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the loooooooong wait for this update! Got caught up with school and it's my last semester before I graduate so everything is crazy! Thank you guys for sticking around and being patient. Haha.

“The place here l-looked so beautiful in the day. I can’t believe how drastically it changes at night.” said Clark.

 

He started at the scenery he and Dick were driving away from in the Batmobile. The archaic Wayne mansion shrunk into the darkness bit by bit with the help of a coalescence of dark fog that engulfed it like some enormous creature of recondite, cosmic origin. It was strange to Clark--to see such a place he most felt safe and at peace in for the past few days--take on a menacing aura solely because of the absence of light. 

 

Dick snickered at Clark's comment. “That could be said about anything or any place cloaked in darkness.”

 

Clark turned his head to the Alpha. “I suppose so. But most of Metropolis looks breathtaking at night.” There was a sigh of longing from the young Omega as he retorted to Dick.

 

“You’ve missed it I bet. How long?...” Dick asked, purposefully leaving the bad portion of his question out. He was very cautious of making sure Clark feel comfortable with him.

 

Clark nodded sluggishly. “I did miss home. I was away too long. Funny, it was Bruce that pushed me away…to go back…” he paused; thinking back to both times Bruce kissed him and then shivered.

 

Dick mimicked Clark and became quiescent for a moment before asking, “Why did Bruce let you go so soon if you are still in danger? I’m sorry if I’m being nosy. I don’t know anything about what’s happening between you two aside from the rescue, but it seems out of character of him.”

 

Clark seemed to shrink back into his seat, growing red. If Dick wasn’t so focused on the dark road ahead, he would have also seen the Omega bite his lips nervously. His brain struggled to search for euphemisms to use to explain what was happening between he and Bruce. That which ultimately led to Bruce requesting that he leave.

 

He sighed and answered slowly. “Well you can guess.”

 

Dick shook his head. “I don’t think I can. I haven’t spoken to Bruce in a long time to guess anymore. The man isn’t exactly easy to read if I’m honest.” His statement was innocuous.

 

Clark sighed again then quietly explained. “It’s what would usually happen between an Omega and an Alpha when an Omega goes in…heat.”

 

Dick did almost the equivalent of a spit take as he quickly spun his head to his right taking, his eyes off the empty road. “Bruce?!” Dick exclaimed. “Bruce Wayne went in rut? Bruce, with the unnatural obsession with control originating since before puberty ever hit him! He went in rut?!”

 

Regardless of not having been around Bruce for as long as Alfred or Dick have been, an ‘obsession with control’, specifically self-control, was definitely a characteristic of Bruce that Clark didn’t doubt was accurate. In retrospect, the billionaires paradoxical actions that Friday when his heat began, was proof of that.

 

Bruce was not reacting in repulsion of his being an Omega when he pulled away in shock as Clark previously suspected. He was most likely acting in repulsion of himself for letting his instincts take control of him.  The epiphany makes Clark scoff under his breath as it all began to make some sense.

 

“He did.” Clark answered of Dick’s question. “Why wouldn’t he go in rut?” he asked curiously.

 

“He always takes his rut suppressant pills, very religiously.” Dick answered baffled. “Even in knowing how rare it would be for him to run into an Omega. _Much less one in heat_.”  

 

Dick seemed to mutter the last sentence under his breath to avoid any more awkwardness between him and Clark. It seemed to work as Clark only shrugged his shoulders and quietly mulled over the information. He was surprised to learn Bruce took rut suppressants as religiously as Dick claims.

 

It was very rare that Alphas take them. Everything from pride of their statuses to sleaziness kept them from making any effort to control themselves, even around Omegas who weren’t in heat. But as Clark has observed already, Bruce was different. God, he really prayed the Alpha was alright.

 

With a quiet sigh, Clark glanced out of his passenger window to distract himself from the morbid thoughts coagulating in his mind. The tactic worked for the first few minutes that they drove along in silence. But after several minutes, the scenery outside transformed into an unfamiliar and unwelcoming sight that made Clark freeze. His limbs ossified as he became arrested with uneasiness.

 

They came upon a questioning area. The ground below the car got lower and the road became potholed. At least you can call it a road. It had a carved pathway to it but that was about where the similarities ended.  It was as if they had driven upon a chasm in the grounds of the area.

 

There was no one and no thing in sight, save for the wide shadows of the branches of dead trees casting themselves freely on the dimly illuminated road. The buildings of the surrounding area seemed too large as they belted around the region but gave way to an illusory of lavishness despite the rundown and marred nature of the place.

 

As they continued to drive along, there came a deep dip in the road and the feeling of strange uneasiness Clark had adopted increased. His hands that rested flatly on his laps now curled up into fists. Beside him, Dick stared seriously at the road with prudence.  

 

They had entered into what was an abandoned city. But the peaks of the buildings didn’t seem natural and seemed even more unnatural juxtaposed against the dark-red sky silhouette. Most who’ve come to this area, demur to trust any of the weathering, dented road signs. There’s an uncertainty adopted by the city’s scarce visitors of whether to take the chance and drive across its bridges or under its tunnel and chasms, risking getting lost. Often times, it’s learned that either choice is inescapable.

 

Aside from the look of the city, the stench of sewer odor and oil pervades over it like a mass mold of century old decay. It seemed almost like it had a cursed enchantment over it, and so to get away from it brought about a sense of lucidity and liberation. Although, only will one learn afterwards that they have just successfully traversed through Arkham City.

 

“Are you okay?” Dick asked breaking the tense silence and making Clark jump a little in his seat.

 

“Yes.” Clark answered. It wasn’t even half honest.

 

“Don’t be afraid.” Dick whispered as he caught Clark’s bluff.

 

He drove slowly throughout the rue, wary of everything outside from the dancing shadows to the stray cats pawing at empty cigarette buds and packets on the dirty roads. They drove until they were about five miles from Arkham Asylum, to the barren and bleak industrial area of Arkham.

 

Here, the surrounding fields appeared exceptionally few and just a mile ahead stood specially scattered and uniform warehouses. When another drop in the road brought the many warehouses of the city in clearer view, the scent of Bruce assaulted Clark’s nostrils at once.

 

“Bruce!” Clark cried excitedly. The Alpha’s aroma was the strongest to his senses in their current area. Exactly where was it coming from? Clark couldn’t tell but didn’t want to lose it.

 

“Think he might be somewhere here?” Dick asked.

 

Clark nodded once and Dick slowed the car’s speed down between 10 to 15 miles per hour. He set the mode of the bat mobile to stealth so that it would roam around the city quietly allowing Dick and Clark to listen out for anything of importance.

 

“Alfred.” Dick contacted the butler through his earpiece.

 

The Butler responded immediately. His voice was audible to both Clark and Dick from the bat mobile’s speakers “Assuming you’re contacting me to ask for confirmation of the location, then you are indeed in the area of the signal.”

 

“It’s The Chasm Alfred.” Dick informed.

 

There was a sigh and then a pause from the butler. “Ah, that explains it. Good luck. As always, I’ll be in your ears.”

 

“Thanks Alfred.” Dick said and turned off their communication.

 

“Don’t get out of this area.” Clark commanded as they came to a slow stop near the warehouses.

 

Dick did as he said without question and turned off the engine of the car. Everything soon became eerily quit. Not even the chirping of the crickets and rumbling thunder could take away from the suffocating silence. Dick clicked on the voice changer of his suit’s cowl and laid out the grounds of a plan. His synthesized voice spoke calmly as Clark leaned towards him attentively.

 

“We’re in an area nicknamed The Chasm because people who come here often get lost and rarely will they be found. It’s like searching for someone who fell down a closed off water well. We found and are in that well. We’re lucky because you can sense Bruce. Stay very close to me when we get out of the car. In the case that we find him hostage or severely injured, don’t react and stay quiet. Heed to my every signals and orders no matter what. And if you can, for confidentiality purposes, refer to me as Batman and not by my real name and don’t refer to Bruce as Bruce either. Understood?”

 

The rapid pulsing of blood in every one of Clark’s arteries and the shivers that surged up his spine weren’t brought on by fear any longer. Rather, they were brought upon by the surges of adrenaline, kindling Clark’s intrepid character and motivation to find Bruce. Hopefully without it being too late.

 

It came down to this. Bruce was why Clark was here. It’s why he pitched his voice low and determined as he replied to Dick without even a stutter, “I understand. Only issue is where do we start?”

 

It may be that the faint yell that sounded from one of the warehouses as soon as Clark asked that questions may have been imagined by the Omega, but that a look of silent dread could be seen from Dick too said otherwise. Although Clark had his focus on the direction of where the sound originated, Dick had his somewhere up on one of the industrial steel roofs. Where to start looking? Well, there was the answer to Clark’s query.

 

* * *

 

 

There had been no loud ‘Bang’ as usual when a gun went off and yet Bruce’s ears rung with tinnitus as he watched the Alpha gasp out his last breath then fall to the floor. The other two Alpha’s jaws were down to the ground as they froze silent staring at their colleague’s corpse. They, having been so occupied with Bruce, hadn’t had the lead that their prisoner had. While they were busy gawking at the body, Bruce’s eyes darted up and over beyond their shoulders and sure enough, the figure on the roof shifted into position, ready to claim their next target.

 

“Get down!” Bruce bellowed, sacrificing staying silent in order to avoid the stinging pain in his chest that would ensue anytime he spoke.

 

His warning unfortunately went to no avail. Bruce felt light headed and weakened as now the last of his captives fell to their demise, gasping before dropping like pins to the ground. Now all alone and chained in space while the sniper was still perched upon the roof, Bruce held his breath for what would come next. He did not know of the sniper’s true motives here but the twisting knots in his guts definitely steered his instincts toward labeling them as an enemy too.

 

The use of lethal force alone, crossing a line Bruce vows every day to never even consider, forced the older man to consider this mystery savior had more sinister intentions. Second, they’ve been watching him all of this time but refused to help him. If to protect him indeed was there intention, Bruce wasn’t in the best situations. Sure, he was alive but stranded out here alone now in Arkham was a catalyst to one’s demise.

 

The older man wiggled his arms again in the chains, taking his sight off of the curious figure on the roof to search for any tool that could help him out of them. Alas, when the last of the Alpha had fallen to his death, he had dropped the flashlight he’d been holding and now its light shone out away from Bruce’s reach to an area with nothing but dirt and fresh blood.  That’s a sure way to attract rodents and Bruce was dreading the idea of staying here like this. He needed to do something, needed to think of something while the sniper still gave him some time to live. Probably as some sort sadistic tactic before he killed him too, Bruce thought.

 

But with his vision a blur and his respiration waning, his brain lacked the needed oxygen to brainstorm and come up with a plan. Even to simply yell out a ‘help’ proved to be difficult let alone how useless it would be in Arkham. He could truly die here and perhaps that is why he’s been granted mercy by the sniper. As his eyelashes batted about frailly, he suddenly heard a shuffling.

 

A shuffling from somewhere very close to him. Had the rodents already come, enticed by the smell of death and blood? No, not a rodent. To Bruce’s horror, there in the faintly illuminated room, crawled a figure, unnaturally worming towards him. He gawked at the body which stopped and mewled weakly before making a growl then reaching for the gun near their temple.

 

One of the Alphas had come back from the dead! No, that’s not possible. Bruce blinked. This wasn’t a hallucination either. The shot they had taken just hadn’t killed them yet and now here Bruce was again, staring at death’s door with no plan, no vim to defend himself.

 

The half dead Alpha rose to support his upper body like a zombie on one hand while the other brandished the pistol. That hand shook unsteadily but his fingers had just enough strength to curl around the trigger. He was close enough for the shot to be lethal.

 

Bruce couldn’t see him very clearly but could hear the man struggling to say something to him before he took his shot. What came out of his mouth however weren’t intelligible words. Instead, it was a spine-chilling series of clicking sounds which Bruce soon deciphered was a cackle. The Alpha’s cackle echoed throughout the space sardonically, ticking Bruce off.

 

Refusing to submit to his inert senses, Bruce thought to maneuver his body as best he could, in a position wherein once the trigger was pulled; he would be hit in a spot that would be less fatal. Hopefully.  With that plan in mind, he groaned ready to put it in play before it was too late but was arrested in his movements as a spark of what he thought was lightning sizzled from above him.

 

Completely frozen in awe now, Bruce looked on as the source of the flashing lighting gave way to be from a person. Bruce took precautions to protect himself from the new stranger until he saw their attention go to the equally startled and alert Alpha on the ground.

 

Next thing, from what Bruce could see, the individual before him disarmed the Alpha with one quick kick of their foot to the poor fool’s hand. What came after was a scream of agony which was then reduced to low curses as the captive was grabbed by the neck to come face to face with his squatting aggressor. Threats were exchanged between the two and Bruce was in too much shock to pay attention to what was being said.

 

However, it was easy to decipher that the new guest had the upper hand in the heated exchange. Just as Bruce was beginning to confirm relief and gratefulness for the presence of the stranger, he heard the Alpha frantically beg for his life. This triggered Bruce’s mind to train itself back to the sniper. Was this them? To answer his question, Bruce saw the mystery being let go of the Alpha and begin to bind him by the arms with a rope to insure an escape wasn’t to be had.

 

The man’s life was sparred. Definitely not the sniper then. Bruce braced himself as his rescuer shone a blinding light to his sensitive vision again. His eye strained to stay open enough to see the person wielding the pale white light.  A familiar symbol on their costume was all he could make out.

 

“Dick?” He said with a hoarse voice, scattered with disbelief.

 

 “Guess again.” a low but shaky voice answered. The person squatted down to meet Bruce at his level.

 

“Cl_” The billionaire started but Clark shushed him working to find a way to free him from the chains.

 

The Omega might have seemed calm and collected on the outside, but on the inside Clark was giving himself tips to take deep breaths and not succumb to fainting or having a panic attack. Every crevice on his body had sweat accrued there while his heart bet triumphantly yet nervously too. He just confronted one of the Alphas who had been the source behind his troubles and that felt good! Still, the reality of the danger he was in was not lost on him.

 

To see an injured Bruce (well what he could make out of Bruce behind his peculiar disguise) almost exactly as he envisioned was terrifying as well. Easily the most terrifying déjà vu episodes of his life.  To worry about what otherworldly forces were at work here would be dealt with at another time. Right now, he was just relieved to hear Bruce breathing.

 

“Are…” Bruce strained to give voice to his speech, “…you…alone? Not…Safe.”

 

Clark scoffed. “Of course I’m not alone. And you’re not one to talk about safety right now. I’m in better shape than you are.”

 

He moved the flashlight across Bruce’s shackled arms to see where to begin freeing him. The cuffs around his wrists were locked tight and the more Clark stood there just examining them, the more Bruce hissed and groaned for his pain to be assuaged.

 

“I’m sorry.” Clark huffed apologetic. He heard Bruce strain to reply to him but he shushed him once again. “Don’t talk. Keep your breath.”

 

He moved the flashlight to the ground to look for the key to the locks and to his luck, there were a pair of keys. Not to his luck, they were peeking through the jacket pocket of one of the dead Alphas. Clark protested to fetch them at first but forced himself to walk over to the corpse. He reached for them while keeping his guard on in case they were playing dead. They weren’t.

 

In two minutes, Clark had Bruce freed from his chains. There was a loud groan of relief from Bruce when his arms dropped weakly from their holds. He lumbered over Clark as the blood rushed through to his arms and hands at an alarming rate. He felt numb. An overwhelming weakness and agony enveloped him. Despite himself, he swayed sideways and Clark caught him so that he wouldn’t fall to the ground. The Omega then gently maneuvered his numb and tired arms to fall upon his shoulders for the time being.

 

Bruce laid still in his arms, enveloped in that smell that stirred his mating instincts. But given that he was too weak to act on any of the things his body was telling him to do to Clark; he just laid there breathing in his scent, lulled by it into relaxation.

 

“You’re okay.” Clark whispered, closing his eyes. “Stay with me. You’re okay.”

 

His hands trembled as he unsuccessfully tried to stop the warm flow of blood coming from somewhere below Bruce’s stomach. He wondered where Dick was as he was meant to meet him here soon. How long did it take to talk down a sniper? Clark gulped and suddenly his heart skipped a beat. He hoped Dick was alright and that his wanting to get to Bruce quickly didn’t land him in trouble.

 

The original plan to stick together didn’t get the chance to come to fruition after they had spotted the sniper. Clark’s determination to find Bruce immediately had them separate as Dick found that the first priority was to confront the shooter to keep him and Clark safe from his hit list while they get Bruce. Begrudgingly, Dick ended up going for the sniper before giving Clark the green light to go for Bruce. He promised he wouldn’t be long and come back to Clark as soon as possible.

 

Behind Clark, the cough of the bound Alpha sounded over Bruce’s wheezes and Clark’s guilt began to rise. He and Dick should have never separated. And then as if an answer to his prayers, Clark heard cautious approaching footsteps and two claps. Before they made separate ways, he and Dick had agreed to meet in the warehouse and exchange two claps to locate each other due to the darkness. With Bruce’s weight restricting his movements a little, Clark answered Dick with two weak but audible claps.

 

“GCPD are on their way.” Dick said walking towards Clark.

 

He looked over at Bruce who had now succumbed to his wariness and was essentially knocked out, but still breathing. Although Dick couldn’t see all of the injuries, a mere glance of Bruce’s slumped body deemed his condition worthy of immediate attention.  

 

“He’s okay. It’s a miracle one of _them_ is still alive.” Clark said gesturing to the shaken Alpha with his hands tied behind him. “He’ll talk. I made sure of it.”

 

Dick hummed impressed. “You learn fast.”

 

Clark smiled. It surprised him that he was still capable of doing so, but he smiled. “It feels good to fight back. So who was it? On the roof?”

 

Dick sighed. “I don’t know. I got there and he tried running away from me. He wouldn’t answer my questions and once we got into a small scuffle, he gave up fighting with me and all I was able to get from him as evidence was his mask.”

 

From under the cape, Dick pulled out a face mask, and showed it to Clark. Clark squinted at it confused. From what little light source that gleamed towards it, it looked red or black, with the eye holes either black too or see through. The most significant feature that made Clark arch an eyebrow was that there were no openings for the mouth.

 

“That’s weird.” Clark commented. “This city is so weird.”

 

Dick sighed, not finding that there was much to add to Clark’s true statement, and went over to help him carry Bruce up to his feet and out of the warehouse.  They stood on either side of Bruce and carefully placed his arms around their shoulders.

 

When they had carried Bruce out in the open, sirens could be heard blaring in the far distance ahead as dawn peeked just over the horizon. The bright headlights of the Batmobile illuminated their path to the vehicle basking Dick, Clark, and Bruce in its beaming blue headlight glare. It was bright enough that it roused Bruce to open his eyes again.

 

The older man took his gaze to Dick. He thought he would meet Clark again but was surprised to find that he came face to face with himself. But of course, it wasn’t a reflection he was looking at, but there supporting his weight, stood someone else donning his cowl and suit just staring right back at him.

 

In that moment, everything became surreal to Bruce and passed by him and through him in slow motion. He recognized those ebullient eyes and that boyish smirk behind the cowl. A multitude of emotions puled through Bruce’s veins then but he possessed no verve to act on them. All he could muster however was to give a tiny but significant squeeze to Dick’s shoulder.

 

“I think this is the first time you’ve ever voluntarily hugged me.” Dick joked to Bruce.

 

Before Bruce gave into his weakened state once again to close his eyes, the faintest of a smile sealed on his lips.


	12. Part One: The Inner Voice

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel like everytime I update this story, I find myself having to say, "I'm so sorry this took sooooo damn long! I'm sorry!!" XD. Again, thank you guys for being patient. No, I didn't die but I feel like I will from all of the anxiety I have adopted over trying to apply and get into grad school soon. Haha! It has been so tiring and stressful so far and it feels nice to escape and work on this fic again. Hope you enjoy reading the developments. ;) This is part one of a two parter. Bruce, Dick, and Clark survived Arkham as you recall. In this chapter Bruce comes to since the events with an interesting admission. This leads to stuff and things. Heehee. Much drama and angst in this one. :)

During the calm and late-afternoon of the same day, Bruce awoke from his slumber much to Dick's and Alfred's relief. Ten hours they've been waiting, watching, and worrying.  A gloomy dread much like the passing night’s storm circled their hearts. The longer the wall clock above Bruce’s bed went on ticking, propagating its terrible echo of passing time throughout the room, the less confident they were of Leslie Thompkin's words that Bruce would not succumb to a coma.

 

Erasing their worries however, Bruce’s first aroused sounds sounded out in a drawn out moan. Then came another but one sounding of such great distress that their worries crept up again. The older man’s eyes were shut tight as if he feared to open them to gaze upon some vague horror. His jaw was locked tight and his head shifted from side to side in quick successions that it nearly appeared as if he was having a seizure.

 

“Nightmare.” Alfred deduced nonchalantly. 

 

Used to Bruce surrendering to them frequently, Alfred was quick to go by his side and perform the usual. He held Bruce’s head still in between his palm. His touch was gentle and instantly calmed Bruce’s fit down. However, Bruce's quickened breathing persisted as he began opening his eyes slowly. And while his sensitive eyes adjusted to the bright light, his head hung heavy as a thumping headache added to the weight.

 

Catching a blur of the face above his, Bruce stared at Alfred with great guilt in his eyes. “Alfred…Clark…”

 

Alfred raised a worried bushy brow. This was a first. “What about Clark?”

 

Bruce didn’t answer and instead left Alfred’s stare to scan around the room. His eyes seemed to look right through Dick when they landed on him. Clark was no where to be seen. This didn’t help in his recovery from his nightmare; which had Clark still in heat, begging him to come rescue him from a pack of Alphas that had kidnapped him.

 

They were in Arkham. In the Chasm. Bruce had been helpless, and in chains was forced to watch and listen to the Omega’s screams as his kidnappers violated him. A very eerie first, Bruce found that he could very intensely feel that the young man was still in heat. Without the rut suppressants to alleviate his urges, sensing Clark came upon him like an alien parasite that he misinterpreted as evidence for the Omega being in trouble.

 

He went on mumbling in a panicked tone. “Arkham…Clark…In Arkham…”

 

“Bruce, breathe and listen to my voice.” Alfred said calmly, still holding his head.

 

Dick’s heart was beating rapidly as he watched the scene unfold. This was a side of Bruce he’s never seen before. “How often does he get like this?”

 

“Haven’t had an episode in a while but it happened fairly often. Especially after you left.”

 

Dick’s shoulders dropped as guilt hung over them. Bruce went on mumbling in dull hysterics recalling the events in Arkham with insufferable dread now. It was worse enough that Dick was put in danger by being in The Chasm, but Clark too? The image of Clark jumping down from above him in Dick’s costume seemed like one pulled out of a dream itself. But that had been very real as that was the last tangible memory that Bruce could recall. What enemies then, had sniffed out Clark and sought him for malicious intents after this memory? 

 

"Clark." Bruce said again, raising his voice. He began to sound more coherent. “Is he alright?"

 

“Yes.” Alfred answered quickly. “Nothing happened to him in Arkham. He and Dick are safe.”

 

Dick and Alfred exchanged curious looks which didn't help Bruce calm down. He sat up abruptly in an attempt to get his head together. The migraine that assaulted him as he did pushed him back down, grunting in pain.

 

“Are you sure?” Bruce asked through gritted teeth.

 

"Really. He's alright." Dick assured. "He’s upstairs actually...In your room." He and Alfred looked at each other briefly once again.

 

"What?" Bruce asked seriously. Their back and forth glances became irritating.

 

"Nothing. Well, it’s just…one would think you were soulmates given the manner in which you worry for each other." Alfred answered honestly.

 

Bruce sighed and began to show signs of being fully present in reality. “I…didn’t Alfred.”

 

 “Unfortunately.” Alfred mumbled under his breath.

 

The sarcastic answer got a small smile from Dick. The butler himself stifled a smirk as he retrieved an ear thermometer from the bedside table and motioned for Bruce to lend out an ear.

 

“After last night, I don’t think you could even if you wanted to. Fever, fractured rib, mild concussion…I expected a lot worse given the onset of your fever. Those pills nearly killed you. Not that such a possibility has ever stopped you from doing anything dangerous.”

 

“You were out for a long time.” Dick added. “We thought you were in that other deep sleep."

 

"Leslie's recommended no strenuous activities from you for at least a month Bruce." Alfred chipped. "If you feel your pain becomes too great to tolerate, take two of these pills yet until I can get you what Leslie's prescribed. Your temperature is going down so that should assuage your headache..."

 

Alfred went on talking but Bruce’s receptive skills had checked out for a moment to allow him to take in everything. Dick Grayson and Alfred were with him talking to him as if they weren’t separated for some years. As if there wasn’t a falling out between the two Alphas. It was amazing that their dynamic picked up almost exactly where it used to be. He missed the way it was.

 

“…those rut pills. Had Clark and Master Dick not found you in time, I dread to imagine what could have happened to you."

 

Bruce grimaced. The object he’s depended on to essentially keep himself level headed at all times in a city peppered with Omegas nearly killed him instead. Cap off that nice bit of irony with that fact that Clark took part in saving him. Bruce would laugh if his aching rib or headache would allow it. Although he detested the fact that he was rendered weak versus those Alphas in Arkham because of some pills, at least there was a non-physical reason behind his sudden spell of feebleness. 

 

Despite the anger he felt over bringing this misfortune upon himself, it was the sense of relief that overwhelmed him as he thought of Clark. Bruce doesn’t know what he’d do with himself if something had happened to Clark in Arkham. The Omega was alright and that’s all that mattered to Bruce. Not the other...strange coincidences or superstitions. Not the strong urge that swamped him, telling him to go to Clark to keep him company so as to ease the pain of not getting what his body needed. Bruce moaned which Alfred mistook as a sign of distress because he went to his side again.

 

“Try not to move too much. Just rest easy, okay?” Alfred told him.

 

Bruce nodded and reminisced quietly instead. He thought of one of the last times he saw Clark. The image of Clark’s backside that morning sealed itself on his mind. He remembered it vividly and how pleasurable it was to just watch him. He looked…full in all the right places and those tiny noises he made as he struggled to reach the items on the kitchen’s tallest shelf had rendered Bruce mum with creeping arousal. But more than that, he recalled that there was another, stronger feeling that pushed him to keep staring dumbly at the Omega. Bruce sighed once he began to feel himself go again. He stifled a moan.

 

"How's Barbara Dick?" Bruce asked, intentionally throwing water on the fire of his musings before they could go very far.

 

Dick smiled. "She's fine. You missed her by two hours." He pointed behind Bruce. "She brought you a balloon."

 

A _Get Well Soon_ , green and yellow helium balloon floated on the nightstand. Bruce turned his head towards it slightly and smiled but a frown quickly appeared on his lips as guilt dashed his uplifted mood. He turned to Dick and for a second Dick was sure the older man was going to cry.

 

"I’m sorry she had to see me like this." Bruce whispered.

 

Dick waved his hands in a "shoo" motion. This was another version of Bruce he wasn’t used to. This was turning out to be quite the day of firsts.

 

"Don't be. She was happy to see you. She misses you too. Just get well soon." Dick said smiling. "We have plenty of time to catch up. Both in life and that other life. I’ll see you again. For now, I have to go back."

 

There was something in Dick's body language that Bruce read immediately as Dick holding something back. Bruce was sure it was for good reasons as he didn’t choose to probe him on it. Dick could tell that Bruce knew he was holding something back as well. The red mask could wait. Dick had acquired a guess as to who the owner of the thing was. And that guess chilled him to the core. Bruce was more knowledgeable, not to mention experienced, of and in dealing with esoteric subjects. This could wait.

 

“Have a safe trip back.” Bruce said.

 

Dick nodded, quickly waving good bye to Alfred and Bruce and left them alone. The room became even quieter after he left. Alfred became increasingly aware that Bruce’s harsh breaths and racing pulse were the result of something other than the pain he was in. Over and over, he noticed the way Bruce glanced carefully at the medicinal contents on the nightstand.

 

“I threw them all out.” The butler confessed. Alfred expected retaliation but was surprised that something not even close to it came from Bruce.

 

“Thanks for beating me to it.” Bruce mumbled and allowed for Alfred to help him sit up so that he could take some pain relievers.

 

“I’m scared for you constantly but this seems the final straw for me. You should know better. You’re as knowledgeable as your father was in the field of medicine for Christ’s sake.” Alfred sighed.

 

Bruce glanced at him and was disheartened by the Butler’s weary and worried expression. He looked as if he hadn’t had any sleep in months. The wrinkles on his cheeks and forehead were pronounced, highlighted by his weary frown. The bags under his eyes aged him ten years then he actually was. Behind his wooden bifocals, his eyes twinkled as if he was holding back tears.

 

“I’m sorry.” Bruce breathed. Aware that it wasn't enough but something.

 

“You’re starting to neglect that word. For once, I’d like for you to mean it. Get some rest. I know you feel tempted but you need the rest. He’s locked himself in your room anyways.”

 

Bruce avoided giving the butler eye contact as he addressed the elephant in the room. Such a behavior was exhibited by Bruce anytime something nerved him or when he simply had no comments at all. The former Alfred found to be the reason after all.

 

“Locked himself?” Bruce muttered with a frown. “Is it really necessary to go that far?…” Clark wasn’t some animal. _He_ wasn’t some animal.

 

“He insisted.” Alfred explained somewhat defensively and moved on from the subject. “I’m going out to pick up the prescription Leslie has advised you take to numb the pain from your fractured rib. In the meantime, you’ll get some rest. The cave is off limits. I’ve programmed its security systems to lock you out of all of its entrances.”

 

Now Bruce had a few comments about that.

 

“Not giving me the freedom to live in my own home huh?” Bruce sighed.

 

“As much as you like to be in there, the cave isn’t your home Bruce.” Stated Alfred a bit more seriously than Bruce anticipated.

 

Bruce frowned and didn’t dare to retort with even an agreement. He simply lowered himself on the bed in defeat and laid his head back onto the soft pillows supporting his head and back. Alfred didn’t step foot out of the room until he saw Bruce close his eyes in more than just a semblance of going to sleep. It didn’t take long for Bruce to fall back asleep to Alfred’s luck. Slowly, he stepped out of the room and sighed once more as the door closed behind him.

 

* * *

 

What Alfred didn’t know wouldn’t hurt him. A little over ten minutes had gone by and that seemed enough time before Bruce decided he was in the clear to open his eyes again. The pain in his chest had diminished significantly to a tolerable level. As did his headache. And even while he looked and felt exhausted, thinking about Clark trapped him in an insomniac state. He pictured the younger man sulking in his room, alone, and believing himself to be some sort of a nuisance. The image rendered Bruce not only peeved but uncomfortable. Thinking about it over and over again almost graduated the discomfort to raw guilt.  Soon, it motivated Bruce to sit up on the bed.

 

He slumped burying his face into his palms and let out a long sigh. After several minutes of staying just like that, face in his palms, he sat up placing his hands on his lap with the decision made that he'd take a trip upstairs to see Clark. But only to remind his guest that he was allowed to make himself at home. And that didn't include locking oneself in their guest bedrooms. Half naked and with only a bath robe to cover himself up, Bruce made it final that that was all he’d do before coming back here to rest. Hopefully, without the contents of those thoughts plaguing his need for sleep. 

 

He went on his feet and quickly realized just how immediately his stomach began to stir and how everything below the area began to stir too and harden. The room became so hot and full with Clark’s scent that he started to feel dizzy every time he inhaled. Was this what really being in rut felt like? He wondered. It felt…Bruce shook himself out of it. If he thought about it too much, he’d lose much needed focus. Monitoring his breaths, he tried to distract himself from the scent with dull thoughts and went about his way. 

 

The climb up the spiral steps was a tasking one for Bruce’s bruised muscles but nothing he couldn’t tolerate. Once he found himself stood upon the door to the bedroom, doubt and regret started to trouble his mind. They became persuasive enough that he turned his back on the door looking to abandon his plan. He even took several steps down the corridor until he reached the top cap of the stairwell where he stopped abruptly when his senses decided they could no longer ignore the scent of Clark. Bruce practically floated towards the source not even taking the time to mind his environment. He made a bee line for Clark's room and hovered a fist over the door. It was too quiet.

 

A new worry crept up in the back of his mind. It was that Clark wasn't beyond the door. And that Alfred’s explication that Clark insisted to be locked inside was a ruse to keep him from stressing over the Omega. However, his ears began to pick up faint moans from beyond the white door. They varied in volume and instantly made Bruce’s instincts rage, but with his jaw clenched, he kept himself restrained. Three knocks on the door got Clark’s attention right away it seemed since the moans stopped soon after.

 

“Lois?” He called, his voice sounding breathy and spent.

 

Bruce went weak at the knees and wanted to melt at the sound of it. He figures it probably would have killed him if it was his name that had escaped Clark's lips instead.

 

“N-no, it’s me… Bruce.” Bruce stammered, uncharacteristic of himself.

 

He heard the quick shuffle sheets and the squeak of the bedspring and added urgently. “Don’t open the door! I just wanted to tell you that you don’t have to lock yourself in here. It's not necessary. You can unlock it but…don’t open it.”

 

Bruce finished his outburst sounding out of breath and definitely not feeling particularly good of the way the words decided to come out of his mouth. He panicked in silence, searching for another way to make his request sound less insulting. On the other side of the door, Clark had brought the covers all the way over himself to hide the mess underneath. He had immersed himself in Bruce's scent, forming an island of the Alpha's clean to dirty shirts he made on the bed. It was one of the ways he mocked experiencing the real thing with Bruce.

 

 _Don’t open it._ Clark felt pricked by those words. He could feel the heat from his face begin to warm the room as the order resonated in his ears. It felt too much like that Friday morning. Shame. Despite everything, nothing had changed. How pathetic had he been to actually believe his connection with Bruce meant something beyond this awkward tension. To believe that both kisses they shared actually stirred something worth chasing for the Alpha.

 

With his shoulders slumped, Clark pouted off the bed not even caring about his appearance. In three slow steps, he approached the door until he was near enough to simply turn its lock. Then like an epiphany, he slowly deduced that there was no reason for him to so feel ashamed over something he couldn't control. As he stood nervously against the door, a defiance began to consume him. A defiance that pushed him to ignore Bruce's order to not open the door. All at once, his patience for whatever game Bruce was playing started to wain.

 

Maybe Bruce didn't want to see him but he wanted to see Bruce. He needed to know the reason behind why the Alpha thought it okay to be so nice to him one way but once it came to becoming intimate, he treated him like a diseased being. The funny thing was, had Bruce not even shown any interest in Clark, his feelings for the billionaire wouldn’t have reached such a peak. Bruce made the first move after all. And God, Clark wanted so much more than kisses from this man.

 

The door clicked open to Bruce’s surprise, leaving him stunned in place. A swooning and soft feeling fell over him as he stared at the Clark who was in nothing but an oversized familiar t-shirt with his dark, dark curly hair, a tussled mess that somehow enhanced his good looks. Bruce gulped his heart out of his throat.

 

“Clark.”

 

“Why?” An upon verge of tears Clark asked as the door swung open wider, creaking loudly on hits hinges.

 

Bruce looked visibly lost for words and the sweat he was accruing from his forehead to his palms was no longer due to the passing fever. The warning thumping of his heart roared, urging him to let in a breath. This pushed him to let out a gasp that was almost insultingly too loud. Only then did he learn just how nervous being face to face with Clark made him. 

 

Indeed Clark made Bruce very nervous. Bruce wasn’t even sure if ‘nervous’ was the correct expression because it wasn’t the type of nerve that usually pushed him to become wary or vigilant. It was a deep nerve that enfeebled him, made his throat grow taut and his stomach agitate in that very nice and sweet way. He both welcomed the feeling and wished it would go away.

 

It was this feeling that pushed him just stand there and keep staring. It was a feeling he hadn’t felt since Jason and Dick...The origins and golden age of it traced back to his childhood with his parents. And even while this was a feeling that didn’t come by easy for Bruce in his present life, it was knocking boldly at his door since the night he found Clark. He didn't necessarily reject it like he's habituated himself to. He was simply cautious to let it too close because the last time he did, it shattered him.

 

On the night he kissed Clark in the study room, he remembers that he felt it then and did let it in for a bit. It's what made him tear up while he flipped through the old photo album and saw himself with his parents for the first time since their murder. And it was what led him to refuse Clark's mating plea and decide for the Omega to leave. It's not often he readily let it seize and cloak him in its warm and peaceful hold that stirred his dormant remaining pieces of innocence and hope that existed in his heart. It was pleasure, warmth_

 

"Why?" Clark repeated raising his voice.

 

Bruce snapped out of it giving a stunned stare. And Clark didn’t give the Alpha a chance to register what was being asked and went off.

 

"Let me gu-guess, you don't want to be n-near me because I'm an O-Omega? Is that it? Do you feel attracted to me because of only my sss-scent and and then remember that I I pretty much have both parts then you sh-shoo me away because it d-disgusts you? At least b-be c-consistent and don’t lead m-me on as if y-you actually are interested in me!"

 

At the worst of times, Clark was able to control his emotions. But too much had occurred, topped with him being late into his heat with raging hormones. He didn't have it in him to be calm and rational. So he had no filter. Nonetheless, it felt good to vent.

 

"Clark, that's not it." Bruce started, arching his brow in confusion.

 

Clark’s rant couldn’t be far from the reason he was acting like he was. Bruce stepped inside the room cautiously which only seemed to augment Clark’s annoyance. Behind him, the door clicked shut on its own propelled on the gust of air from the air conditioner that came on.

 

“Look, I didn’t word it as_” Bruce began but stopped distracted by Clark’s mumbled ‘Don’t open it’ in frustration.

 

"Is this how far y-you want me? Huh?” The Omega walked with agitation all the way back to the other side of the bed and stood there glaring at Bruce. "There’s no use in trying to l-lie or sugar coat it for me Bruce. I want the absolute tr-truth.”

 

Bruce’s heart sunk at how broken Clark sounded. He stepped on closer, now standing a King-sized-bed distance away from Clark. “Can I explain myself?”

 

Clark crossed his arms and waited attentively for Bruce’s explanation. “Why are you d-doing this to me?”

 

Bruce could count on more than two fingers how many times he’s been asked that exact question in a similar situation. Countless partners whom he couldn’t get committed to because of his night job and the dangers that came with it. But those partners were easy to end things with unlike Clark whom Bruce was growing more hesitant to let go every time he saw him. Ending things hurt but Bruce did it enough to get used to the difficult dance. He’s never found himself in a position to be totally honest about why he did but since the Omega already knew of him more than most people ever get to know, he laid it all out.

 

“I’m trying to protect you Clark.” Bruce said solemnly.

 

“Pr-protect me? From what?” Clark breathed, becoming worried.

 

Did this have anything to do with Lex? The very thought of that possibility made Clark angrier than he already was. Was it possible that to make his life even more miserable than it already had, he was blackmailing Bruce and keeping the billionaire from claiming him?  

 

“You want me to be honest right?” Bruce wanted to be sure.

 

Clark nodded, his heart pounding with furor as he prepped for some horrible news. “Yes.”

 

There was a long pause before Bruce spoke.

 

“From me.” Bruce said finally.

 

Now it was Clark’s turn to be confused and his worry only amplified. “What?”

 

“Clark.” Bruce said his name in a whisper.

 

He decided to spill it all out in raw honesty. And even while his senses already knew it, maybe it was then that the seriousness of his feelings for Clark was exposed to him in raw honesty too. What he’s been denying to himself all along edged triumphantly in his brain and sealed in his heart. It was that word which he so seldom, if at all, ever even thought to himself. But it was so obvious that this was what followed that other feeling that was the source of his nervousness around Clark.

 

Bruce forced his lips to work again and spoke. “If I tell you it’s because I’m falling in…love with you, that complicates things. That’s what I think I’m feeling…No, it’s what I am feeling. I just haven’t been…right since I ran into you.”

 

Clark gazed seriously into Bruce’s almond eyes, reading the honestly in them and his frown disappeared to be replaced with a relieved pout. He was sure Bruce was going to confess something malicious. However, he still didn’t understand this explanation.

 

“None of that makes s-sense. What are you saying?”

 

Bruce took a deep breath and tried again. “Sometimes not being myself is good. Especially given where I am in my life lately. I’m saying you’re tapping into something I always try to avoid, for good reasons, because I’m not the best at handling it. To most people, it’s beautiful, but to me, it’s scary…”

 

He paused and his eyebrows arched with candor. It felt oddly freeing to confess fear. He hasn’t genuinely admitted to being scared of anything since his father found him shaken and bruised after he fell into the bat pit at a very young age.

 

“What’s sc-scaring you?” Clark wondered.

 

“It scares me how much I want to love you Clark." Bruce said like if it was the most obvious reason there was. "What may come if we are together...”

 

A gaggle of butterflies fluttered about excitedly inside Clark. Bruce was in love with him! It was perhaps the best revelation he’s ever received but why didn’t it feel good? Why was the older man breaking the news in such a somber matter? Clark felt sympathetic now and bad for going off on the Alpha so prematurely. It’s not as if he expected _love_ to be the culprit as to why Bruce acted so strange around him.

 

“Love. Th-that doesn’t sound l-like something I need pr-protection from.” Clark said dreamingly.

 

Bruce started again, nervously from the sultry stare Clark was shooting him. “It’s selfish, but everyone I’ve pushed away deserved better anyway. With what I do…what I’ve done, and the enemies I’ve created, you’re not safe with me Clark. Arkham was only the beginning. I never want to put you in that situation ever again. You don’t deserve that. Someone who is as kind, caring, and…beautiful as you are doesn’t deserve that. You deserve better.”

 

The butterflies in Clark’s stomach ceased their flapping wings at once. “But you’re m-my better.”

 

Bruce’s heart skipped a beat. He sighed. “I don’t think you understand what you’re communicating.”

 

Clark’s agitation returned at once. “I kn-know what I want. I know exactly what I’m c-communicating. You don’t get to t-tell me wh-what I do and don’t d-deserve. I th-think I’ve been through enough to handle your l-lifestyle Bruce. You’re my better.”

 

There was a quick flash of anger in the Alpha’s visage after Clark finished his thought. It was passionate enough to drive Clark back several steps until he lost ground. While Clark figured that the anger never seemed to be brought upon by what he said, he was still startled by it. He watched on cautiously as that anger quickly disappeared or rather culminated with the intense feeling of grief that Bruce came under. The Alpha did not speak for moments and seemed to be controlling his breath to calm himself down. Seconds later did Clark realize that Bruce’s tumultuous state was the result of an internal battle to keep tears back. Bruce’s fight against them was unsuccessful.

 

“Clark, I will not lose again. I am not going to let that happen to you too. I’m not.” Bruce’s voice remained fluent even while his eyelids burned with tears.

 

Clark came away from the wall and approached the bed again. He wished to comfort Bruce with a hug and wipe those tears away but something told him it wouldn’t help the situation to approach Bruce. The need to console Bruce felt so visceral but he kept his distance.

 

Instead Clark asked, “Let what h-happen? What do you m-mean?” 

 

Bruce blinked tears out of his eyes and swallowed in waiting sobs. He looked down at the floor in such childlike fashion and began again. Finally his fluency surrendered to his woe. His voice quavered with emotion. It was so low and shaky that Clark had to lean against the bed to be able to hear his words.

 

“I…had a son. And I loved him. I…I lost him because of what I do. Because of what I failed to do. He didn’t deserve that fate. To be left alone to bleed to his death. I wasn’t by his side, I couldn’t save him. It was my fault…It was my fault and I won’t let it happen again Clark. Not to you too.”

 

To say Clark was overwhelmed with Bruce’s confession would be an understatement. The shock of it was almost dizzying. It would also be understated that he felt Bruce’s hurt. He understood the pain the Alpha must have gone through and his ongoing grieving. To be helpless for a loved one wasn’t unfamiliar to the Omega.

 

“I had n-no idea. I'm s-sorry.” Clark consoled and meant it deeply. So much so that his cheeks glazed with tears too. “I-I’m really sorry Bruce.”

 

Bruce swallowed hard and went on. “I don’t want to risk it. I don’t want the same to happen to you. I can’t. I can't Clark.”

 

Clark whimpered. Those last words felt like a twinge in his heart. He had nearly forgotten the source of this conversation in the first place. And at the moment, he was already hurting too much for this too to be piled on.

 

“No.” Clark pleaded. “I won’t let m-myself be t-taken from you. I pr-promise I won’t let that h-happen Bruce.”

 

Bruce shook his head, unmoved by the oath. “You can’t promise that.”

 

Clark opened his mouth to retort but closed it once he realized that Bruce was correct. It wasn’t right to make such a promise abruptly. However, just because he understood Bruce’s sorrow didn’t mean he agreed with the philosophy the older man had adopted as a result. Hell, if the intent of Bruce's confession was to persuade him to give up on a future with Bruce, it achieved the opposite. Clark felt an even more powerful connection to Bruce now. 

 

“Bruce…you can’t allow that to d-deny you love. I’ve l-lost too. I was h-helpless. And it hurt but I couldn’t d-do this to myself. Moments like this, y-you need someone. I w-want that...I don’t want you to be b-be alone…I don't want to be alone..." Clark lamented and with a quivering lower lip finished with, "or with s-someone else.” 

 

Bruce’s stomach churned at the sound of ‘someone else.’ Eerily similar to that gutted feeling he experienced losing his parents and Jason. 

 

Bruce explained. “In the long run, it would have been for the better. Again, I don’t mean to hurt you.”

 

“W-well…while we’re being h-honest…” Clark began miserably. “I am hurt.”

 

Bruce swallowed ruefully. “It's not my intention.”

 

Clark shook his head like he didn’t want to hear any more of what the Alpha had to say. “Wh-what happened with your s-son isn’t at play here. I am not him. I feel s-safe with you. I won’t let it h-happen to me! I won’t h-hurt you like that Bruce! I won’t.”

 

“Something easier said than done.” Bruce said.

 

Clark walked around the bed, standing now two steps from Bruce. He looked into Bruce’s eyes and forced his vision to remain clear of tears. His index finger pointed, shaking towards the Alpha's chest as he sobbed.

 

“Maybe it’ll be easier f-for you but I don’t think I’ll ever g-get over you Bruce. I want to b-be with you. You don't th-think I'm s-scared of losing you too if you were m-mine?”

 

He let his pointing finger down, both hands balled into fists. This hurt more than his now debunked silly idea that Bruce didn’t want to go far with him because he was an Omega. At least with that reasoning, Bruce wouldn’t have ever loved him. But Bruce did love him and Clark wanted to be loved by him. This hurt more because Clark loved Bruce. There was no second guessing that or getting over that. Another rant was on its way out of him.

 

“You’re th-the only Alpha who’s ever c-called me b-beautiful to m-my face with actual sw-sweet in-intents. Without wanting to take a-advantage of me. You make me f-feel like I m-matter. I I’ve waited f-for you all my l-life. You may think I can but I w-won’t ever get over you and h-how you make me f-feel. I can't kn-knowing you feel the same way Bruce. I w-wish you wouldn't have t-told me you are in love with me if it was going to c-come to this.”

 

Another weak, “Clark.” was all Bruce could manage to say to the distressed Omega. And an introspective question meant for only himself came out audibly after.

 

“Why me?” Bruce wondered.

 

The answer for the vague, personal question came quite quickly and easily to Clark. The Omega's eyes sparked with passion and wonder when they locked on Bruce.

 

“B-because of th-the way you cared for me that night. The way you m-made me feel c-comfortable and s-safe. Because you were s-sweet, kind, c-caring and beautiful. _Exactly_ what I d-deserve.”

 

A feeling of intolerable pain and discomfort with the continual charade infiltrated Bruce’s senses. A dilemma’s dilemma of conflict was being had within himself. On the inside the terrified, calculated self of the older man was losing this battle despite it being almost a victory on the outside. All Bruce had to do was repress it all. 

 

“I don’t mean to hurt you.” Bruce repeated, sounding like a broken record. 

 

Clark wiped his tears off on his wrists. “D-don’t. I can’t force y-you to do s-something y-you don’t w-want. B-but I n-need you to b-be honest with m-me again about one more th-thing.”

 

Bruce blinked and stared at Clark curiously. He owed Clark a lot more than that for putting him through this, he knew. “Okay. Tell me.”

 

“I w-want you to be h-happy Bruce.” Clark sighed.

 

 _Happy._ The word hit Bruce like a flash of bright light. Bruce blanked out and repeated the word inside his head. It's not often he readily let it seize and cloak him in its warm and peaceful hold that stirred his dormant remaining pieces of innocence and hope that existed in his heart. It was pleasure, warmth… **happiness**! That was it. That feeling that thrived in his childhood and was revived by Jason and Dick coming into his life. It came upon him in the study room when he held and kissed Clark, the photo album... Bruce had felt happy.

 

“Will you be h-happy?” Clark continued, seeming to have recollected himself but the cloud of his hurt still cast a dreary shadow over him. “I can't m-make you mine but w-will you will be h-happy at least Bruce? After we p-part ways again...when I'm maybe s-safe on my own or even...with s-someone else?"

 

Bruce remained stumped. His mouth was open yet nothing came out. He was assaulted with that dry throat spell again. But this time it was accompanied with a feeling of trance-like astonishment. The room became an eerie kind of quiet. Even the birds outside halted their late afternoon chirping as if they had all gathered around the bedroom window to eavesdrop on the conversation, anticipating Bruce's answer with breaths held. Bruce's eyes never left those of Clark's. His whole being vanished into them. He couldn’t look away. He couldn’t fathom repressing how the owner of those rings of inviting cerulean oceans made him feel on the inside. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll try to have part two up as soon as possible...It's all a first for me when it comes to writing fics as stuff and things happen in it too...hehehe.


	13. Part Two: Where We're Going

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Part two!!! Lucky chapter 13. :)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ah guys it's been so long once again but thank you so much for continuing to stick around. lol. I am still as busy as ever but surviving and still here. Alas, here is part two. Hope you enjoy it! :)

Bruce thought about Clark’s question seriously, sifting through his reasoning adamantly. Mulling over his other options, Bruce felt they seemed selfish but the selfishness of the choice to let Clark go wasn’t lost on him. He sighed, closing his eyes for a moment. This feeling_no_ _these_ feelings he felt for Clark had coalesced into something almost cosmic. It was beyond him. It was bigger than him no matter how much he was unnerved by chasing or fighting things beyond his mere being. In fact, he was experienced in such realms. But how could anyone defeat something that seemed so immortal?

 

“No.” Bruce answered. His tone was defeated yet relieved to admit what was obvious. “I wouldn’t be happy.” 

 

A lone tear streamed delicately down Clark’s face to collect at the Cupid’s bow of his upper lip. He licked it and then decided to abandon keeping his distance from Bruce. He practically ran to him, wrapping his arms around the Alpha’s neck. He sunk himself unto Bruce’s chest embracing the melancholy man in a soft one sided hug. Bruce had been so startled by the hug that he had frozen awkwardly. But soon, he relaxed and enfolded his arms around Clark, holding on securely.

 

This was nice, thought Bruce. Being close to Clark like this was perfection. The feel of his skin. The arresting scent. Bruce almost melted right through him with serenity. It was so nice that for a moment, Bruce wanted to take everything back if just to live it for a second. But it was too late. That seemed to be confirmed as Clark pulled away from him and stepped back a distance from him. At the same time, that gutted feeling, the very one Bruce aimed to avoid by letting Clark go, seized him by the back of the neck intending to drown him in an ocean of regret.

 

The Omega wiped away the remainder of his tears and forced a smile. As he remembered Alfred’s words concerning not giving up on Bruce, it pained him that it was just that that he was flirting with. If only he’d been warned of Bruce’s reasoning. His heart had already fallen to the pit of his stomach in defeat anyways. And that was okay. But only on one condition.

 

So Clark asked one more thing. “Well wh-what would m-make you happy Bruce? I want t-to know. I really w-want that for you.”

 

Bruce’s eyebrows furrowed inward, touched by how sincere the request was. He could tell as much just by Clark’s eyes. In Clark’s eyes, Bruce saw also remnants of past experiences with the very issues he’s been struggling with. They shared with his own eyes a defiance to standing down that he admired. But what separated the history in Clark’s eyes from his was that Clark’s were filled with a hope he begrudged. A hope he needed. He stared at the whole of Clark’s face and frowned, once more wishing to take it all back. The hollow hurt on the Omega’s face devastated him. His fault.

 

“I know what I need to be happy Clark. And I think you have an idea of what that would be.” Bruce found himself saying. He gave a tacit clue as to what that idea was. The prelude of a change of heart.

 

It took a while but Clark’s lips opened in a surprised ‘O’ as his eyes widened with clarity, welling up again. His legs trembled as if the bones and muscles there were numbed by a sedative. There felt something so much more different from the current stare Bruce gave him. Clark sensed it. If Clark didn’t sense it, his heart wouldn’t have leaped back into his chest, threatening to continue to his throat. He searched ardently in Bruce’s eyes for any signs of dishonesty and saw none again.

 

“M-me?” Clark asked sniffling.  “Well wh-why get rid of s-something you need?”

 

Silence once again from Bruce and then, "I can’t."

 

The corners of Clark's lips quivered. The hope was nice while it lasted. "I know. And I, I know y-you don’t mean t-to but that doesn’t an_"

 

To Clark’s surprise, he was being pulled to Bruce again and not to his own accord. A shaking hand reached out and held Clark’s jaw momentarily. Then the fingers fanned out to caress his dark hair while the thumb swiped tears off his cheek. Bruce tugged Clark’s hair back softly but significantly enough that the Omega was pushed to look squarely up at him until their lips almost met.

 

Bruce’s tone sounded bewildered, like he had snapped out of an out of body experience. "I can’t get rid of something I need. And I can’t picture you with someone else. I don't want to picture that Clark. And_" Bruce paused brusquely.

 

Like that introspective question that escaped his mind earlier, it seemed like he never meant for the interjection to come out either. Clark furrowed his brows and his frown intensified. He appeared exhausted of this just as the Alpha was but there existed that glimmer of assurance still.  Even while it was becoming more and more evident how emotionally damaged Bruce was, Clark remained patient with him seeking to heal at least half of his wounds. In a strange way, the inner wounds made Bruce all the more attractive to him. He too had similar wounds. Bruce gulped truly woeful of the rollercoaster of emotions he was putting Clark through. More and more, he sought to make it right.

 

"And?…" Clark prompted Bruce to go on.

 

Bruce gazed seriously into Clark's eyes, took a deep breath, and swallowed his nerves.

 

"And maybe…maybe, there doesn't need to be a someone else Clark." He finished his thought bashfully while his heart drummed in crescendo in his chest.

  
  
Clark gasped softly. He was taken by how fast Bruce’s heart was beating. He felt the excited pulse in his palms, against Bruce’s own chest as he moved in closer to the Alpha. Or perhaps it was his own pulse that he was feeling, synching with Bruce’s.

 

"Maybe? Don't d-do this to me Bruce. I want you to m-mean it. N-no wavering. And y-you can’t take it back.” Clark took a handful of the soft cloth of Bruce’s bathrobe, squeezed and croaked. “I want t-to say th-that I _won’t_ l-let you take it back.”

 

"So don't let me." The Alpha mouthed.

 

Maybe it was their closeness but Bruce couldn’t believe he wanted to avoid this electric feeling that pervaded his spirit. He became infatuated with it, never wanting to smother it. It became like something that had been waiting for Clark, imprisoned. And if it was only Clark who could make him feel like this with simply a touch, he needed him more than the necessity to breathe. 

 

"Huh?" Clark leaned in, pushing his dark hair behind his ears to hear it said again. 

 

Bruce repeated it; a serious plea he needed so desperately for Clark to heed to.

 

“Clark don’t let me take it back.”

 

Clark didn’t know what to say so a series of quick, joyous, and dazed gasps took the place of words until he decided to stall them by going for what he’s yearned for. He went on his toes and leaned in until the opening between his and Bruce’s lips was no more. He was slow and impassioned. His skills remained virgin but Bruce could not think of a better kiss he’s shared with anyone else.

 

The link of tongues triggered Clark’s neediness and prompted those familiar excited moans that Bruce loved to elicit. Feeling Clark’s hands excitedly exploring his chest made him almost forget he wasn’t in the best of conditions physically to have it touched like that. But he’d go through any pain if it meant getting this reaction out of Clark. His need to mate with Clark rose so significantly that it numbed the pain from the sustained injuries. 

 

Amid their passionate embrace, the seal to Bruce’s bathrobe started to slowly come undone. As a result of Clark touching Bruce so intensely, one sleeve was now slumped off Bruce’s broad shoulder prompting Clark to pull away. He sighed, his eyes glued on that nude shoulder and the rest of what was underneath. Catching his breath, he pursed his lips shooting Bruce a look that was perhaps purposely suggestive or not because as soon as he gave it, he appeared regrettable of it. He remembered another one of Alfred’s words. This time concerning keeping his distant from Bruce while he rested. He palmed the Alpha’s chest and gently pushed against it as he backed away.

 

“What is it?” Bruce mumbled in puzzlement.

 

Clark looked like he didn’t at all want to say it. “Y-you’re supposed to be downstairs resting. I promised I wouldn’t b-bother you. Your d-doctor was very serious about avoiding stre-strenuous activities.”

 

Bruce’s face went a mix of sour and hurt. An _activity_ was rudely simplifying what he wanted to do to Clark, with Clark. It made a fractured rib the least of his worries. Right now what ached him the most was the thought of leaving Clark’s side again. The thought of waiting when both of them were more than ready right this moment.

 

“You want to wait?” Bruce asked. His tone failed to mask the disappointment.

 

Clark's heart raced while Bruce continued to look _leer_ at him. It didn’t help Clark’s case that he was making tiny keening noises every time he exhaled.

 

His bottom lip disappeared between his teeth and he shrugged his shoulders. “We sh-should wait.”

 

Bruce sighed and looked at the floor. In the back of his mind, he wondered if this was somehow payback from the universe for what he put Clark through. Now he was on the receiving end of a push back.

 

“Okay.” Bruce accepted Clark's choice nonetheless. “We’ll wait.”

 

He stalled; hesitant to leave Clark who looked exceptionally stunning in that oversized t-shirt. There was him, Clark, the bed… His mind was racing as he pictured the lush view between Clark’s legs with lustful thoughts. There was no way he was going to get the rest he needed with that image in his head.

  
  
Taking Clark’s silence as his cue to leave, Bruce made a move to knot the ties of his bathrobe but then stopped when Clark walked up to him and made an urgent grab for his hand. Clark was as startled with himself as Bruce was. So much so that he quickly let go of Bruce and retreated back until he stopped against the bed. That simple touch shocked him with such pleasure that it almost felt alien. His legs trembled noticeably and his keens quickened. Embarrassingly, the evidence of what that touch did to him started to trickle down his thigh. Though then, did Clark realize it wasn’t the touch that rendered him like this. But rather what he was thinking.

 

Something violently carnal came upon him then as he fawned over Bruce. That Bruce minded what was so rare of most of the Alphas he’s encountered to mind; his say-so, made him forget about his promise to Alfred, to Leslie. Admittedly, yet shamefully, there was a part of him that hoped Bruce would be insubordinate of his request to wait and…oh fuck waiting. What was the point of waiting again? Some injuries? Which Bruce didn’t appear to be so bothered about anyways?

 

“We sh-should wait.” Clark pouted coyly. His voice shook. His cheeks glowed with a crimson red. “B-but I never said that that’s what I w-want to do.”

 

Bruce’s breath hitched. His slumped shoulders perked up and he wound them back causing the bathrobe to fall off of them completely.

 

“Clark…if we get close like we just were again, I’m not going to have the power to let go of you.”

 

Clark’s limbs went so feeble with arousal that he toppled back to fall on the bed. His heat pulsed within him, shortening his breath. It felt so suffocating that he raised his shirt up to his chest in a reflexive attempt to relieve the tension inside.  In the process, he confirmed Bruce’s suspicion that the shirt was indeed all that he was wearing.  He revealed everything to Bruce. He lifted his knees to his chest and separated his legs, exposing his red-pink opening threaded with slick. His body squirmed up and down as he practically implored for Bruce to fill it. 

 

“I, I know.” Clark stammered. He moaned and rose on his elbows to peak at Bruce through the gap in between his legs. “D-don’t let go.”

 

In a time too quick for Clark to register, Bruce let his bathrobe fall to the floor noiselessly and was over him, pinning him down on the mattress. Never giving Clark the chance to even let out a breath, he pressed their lips together again.

 

When it came time for an oxygen break, Clark leaned in after only a second, gasping for more. But Bruce wasn’t interested in his lips anymore. Clark’s neck was what had his attention now. His Alpha tendencies couldn’t help themselves. He lowered his head to the Omega’s scent glands and hovered over them, inhaling deeply through his nose.

 

 “Oh my god! Yes! T-take me Bruce!” Clark exclaimed between frantic breaths. His hands eagerly groped Bruce’s arms.

 

Clark then grabbed onto a handful of Bruce’s hair and pressed his neck right against Bruce’s nose, inviting him to take him. Submissively, he rolled his hips against the older man, gasping when he felt at the same time; Bruce’s scalding erection sizzle against his naval and the billionaire’s stubble prick his neck. This drove him so wild with lust that he shivered fiercely, letting out a raucous noise that sounded something between a sob and a whimper.

 

 

The noise pushed Bruce to swiftly begin inhaling in animalistic pleasure at Clark’s scent glands. The vibrations from his low growls sent ripples of pleasure through Clark’s insides already.  Moments later, he felt Bruce’s hands caress across his hip then under his ribs to pull at the hem of his shirt. Clark raised his arms up, allowing Bruce to easily get the shirt over and off of him.

 

After discarding the shirt, Bruce squeezed Clark’s sides which enticed a chocked giggle and an arch of the back from being easily ticklish. Bruce took immediate advantage of Clark’s curved back by slipping keen hands under the bridge. Next, he went on to slide his fingers slowly down Clark’s back until he was able to gather Clark's full bottom in his palms so as to squeeze it palpably.

 

Clark shivered, his eyes squeezed tightly shut while excitement stunned his body. The surface of his skin was so covered with goose bumps that it almost stung like a pinch or a burn to the touch. And at the moment, given how skin close Bruce was to him, he was on fire. He mumbled an unintelligible plea followed by low, trembling moans. Bruce responded to them with hums and wished Clark would open those eyes and let the liquid of their electric blue wash over him and claim him as much as he wanted to claim Clark.

 

“Why did you go Clark?…Why? Look at me.” Bruce whispered. His voice was a low and hoarse droll. Like he was musing to himself.

 

Clark moaned and drew his head back with his mouth agape as if to gasp in much needed air. Then he opened his eyes and when they fell on Bruce, the world froze and everything around them dissipated leaving them tremendously aware of each other. Like they were the only beings in the universe.

 

“ _Y-you_ m-made me l-leave Bruce. You t-told me to g-go.” Clark answered, cupping Bruce’s somber face and kissing his pout.

 

There was a thin trail of a tear that journeyed down the Alpha’s cheek to be wiped away by Clark as he gave a painful mewl.

 

And in between Clark’s small kisses, Bruce groaned. “Don’t… let me do that… again Clark… Don’t ever let me push you away...I need you…you know that?”

 

Clark’s hands went on to hold Bruce’s forearms. He pulled Bruce in to be closer and feel everything, longing to be completely consumed by the Alpha. “I know. I w-won’t. I’m n-not going anywhere.”

 

They linked lips again, and in impressive show of flexibility, Bruce removed his only piece of clothing without even a grimace. He pushed away everything and everyone that ever hurt him. Simply, he focused on Clark and his burning pant up need for him. Together they pulled apart, exhaled, and then began panting heavily.

 

“This is what you really want?” Bruce breathed. A confirmation rather than a question.

 

Clark nodded, chewing on his lower lip. “Wh-what about you? What d-do you think?”

 

Bruce lifted himself up, on his knees and marveled at Clark’s body. His eyes playing connect the dots with every little mole and freckle on his creamy skin. “I think I’m very lucky.”

 

Clark was sure his mouth and tongue were in place to say something as sweet too, but instead a broken whine escaped his reddened lips. The low octave of Bruce’s voice and just being able to be with him like this were all at fault. Coming down more flustered than he could imagine, Clark made it worse for himself as his eyes darted down Bruce’s torso timidly and drank in everything in detail. Scars, old or new, and bruises, couldn’t distract him from how breathtaking Bruce looked.

 

Upon seeing it, his mood became tempestuous. Sprouting from a root of trimmed, dark curly hairs, it was long and wide with the tip shiny and spurting an unceasing stream of pre-cum. It looked indecent but wonderful too and so Clark couldn’t look away. Couldn’t look away from the handsome Alpha it belonged too. The more he gawked, the more the color rushed to his cheeks while slick rushed down his inner thighs. As he relaxed, his limbs slackened making it easy for Bruce to manipulate his legs to dangle around either side of his hips.

 

When the Alpha’s erect member flicked his briefly, Clark flinched and yelped. “Oh!”

 

“What is it?” Bruce asked startled. Loosening his grip of Clark’s hips.

 

“N-nothing. That j-just felt really n-nice.” Clark wheezed, embarrassed. 

 

Bruce gave an amused sigh of relief and pulled Clark forward until his elevated shaft pressed against the Omega’s pooling orifice. Clark squealed, thrilled and surprised by the warm, heavy, and smooth feel of it. His trembling hands cuffed around Bruce’s wrists. His heat quailed for more that he began to squirm helplessly, glazing Bruce’s shaft and scrotum with his slick as he ground along its length impatiently.

 

“Uhhh Bruce…”  

 

Bruce was overwhelmed with lust. Clark appeared drugged with pleasure as his long lashes flapped fitfully; his breath coming out in harsh, irregular successions. They became low moans as the Alpha's teeth and lips started to nip gently at his neck. They hadn’t even made it to the main event and Clark couldn’t imagine how better it could get from this.

 

“Does that feel nicer?” Bruce asked, watching Clark shiver beneath him. He gave the Omega a gentle smirk.

 

Clark nodded despite completely missing what Bruce had said. His jaw went slack with awe and hunger for much more flesh on flesh contact.

 

“Y-yea…” He keened. “It feels good…P…p-please! I w-want to feel more…”

 

Bruce blindly reached out a hand and grabbed for a pillow. He slid it underneath Clark's hips so that Clark met level with him without needing to arch so much. Clark made his bottom comfortable on the soft cushion as Bruce lowered himself upon him carefully.  Somehow it came like a natural maneuver for Clark to push his hips down while Bruce aligned himself with his opening to push forward. The second his bulbous tip pierced inside Clark’s sopping entrance, they both cried out softly.

 

All at once, they became so overwhelmed with carnality. Bruce quaked and Clark whimpered, grabbing onto his arms. He enjoyed how Bruce’s biceps flexed with as much pleasure and anticipation as he had as Bruce inched his way inside him. No pushing away this time. This time, Clark opened up for Bruce just as he had the last time they were close like this and Bruce let go of himself to him.

 

The deeper Bruce filled Clark, the faster the Alpha’s breaths escaped as if this was his first time again. And it might as well have been because Clark was different. The Omega’s moist warmth was unlike anything he’s ever experienced. It rendered him splendidly feeble with pleasure but with a fixation with the primal need to make Clark his and his only. To mark him.

 

“Soft…” Bruce susurrated.

 

They moaned together once Bruce had no more inch to fill Clark with. Clark's chest heaved restlessly up and down from the superfluous elation of just having Bruce inside him. He never expected how hot it would feel and the stretch! When Bruce only gently thrust his hips forward once, Clark hissed and his head and eyes rolled back as a ripping sensation occurred inside him.

 

“Clark?” Bruce reacted, stopping his movements immediately and withdrew halfway. But he did so with struggle. Disrupting that one second of wet pleasure made him light headed.

 

“Hnnn…” Clark sighed deeply, blowing a stray piece of hair from his face. “Th-that felt…oh…”

 

It was like Bruce had branded him on the inside. The mark burned him there for a quick second and then felt to begin to heal, sealing Bruce to him as he opened up more than he already was. The burning sensation soon dissipated leaving him feeling strange. Strange because even while it still stung, it was also characterized by something undoubtedly pleasurable. Something that made him moan Bruce’s name faintly and grow significantly wetter.

 

“I don’t want to hurt you.” Bruce groaned guiltily into Clark’s neck.

 

“What? No! It’s g-good…It’s you Bruce... I can feel it…you. You feel good.” Clark sighed with awe. Then with a warm smile, he admitted. “H-hurt for just a moment. Just m-means you’re my first.”

 

Bruce lifted off Clark’s neck and returned the smile. “You are too.”

 

Clark hummed. His eyes gleamed with tears. Bruce positioned himself on his elbows over Clark’s shoulders and they linked lips as he moved his hips forward again and again and again. Slow and deep was the rhythm Bruce opted for as it allowed for both of them to share intimate looks and small kisses. It rendered him speechless how hypersensitive he became to everything to do with Clark. He could feel Clark’s pulse, slick, scent all around him anytime their stomachs mashed delicately.

 

“Ahh!_uh!...aaah…” Clark sighed at every little thrust.

 

Whatever Bruce had done with that first thrust, it opened in him new and incredible pleasure areas. Ones he could never reach on his own. He moaned while his palms, gathering sweat, kept slipping down Bruce’s arms. Yet he never broke his embrace just like Bruce never ceased peppering kisses on his neck and gently sucking at his hardened and sensitive nipples. Bruce couldn’t keep his lips away from Clark, adulating it with zeal. His tongue and teeth worked together seeking to do more than taste the Omega.

 

Clark became stunned by these surreal and stimulating acts. Coupled with what went in inside of him, he briefly lost the spontaneous ability to breathe. He was in tears mumbling a soft chant of, “Too m-much Bruce…too much…” until Bruce finally had mercy on him and pulled away to catch his breath too. And the moment Bruce’s lips were no longer on his skin, Clark regretted those pleas.

 

“Wait…Bruce, no…don’t stop…d-don’t let go…” He crooned, taking them back.

 

Bruce paused for a moment and gazed at Clark tenderly. “I won’t.”

 

Then he resumed feeling poised to change the pace. He set it to nothing too drastic from what it was before. The faster he moved, the more his size and pulse…love, seemed to magnify to Clark. It all made for a hallucinogenic sensation. He wished it would not dissipate for those seconds Bruce took pulling his hips back. When he did, Clark would follow him and soon was rocking his hips forward restlessly, desperate to keep Bruce inside.

 

“Clark…please…” Bruce gasped over the steady squeaking of the bed and Clark’s fraught whimpers. “Move with me. It’ll feel much better if you move with me baby...”

 

Bruce wasn’t one to make pleas in bed. But with Clark, it was not like his other times where this moment involved furious, experienced, and almost competitive bucking mixed with the exchange of dirty phrases. With Clark, Bruce was rapt to the point of quaking with nerve as he wanted to make this worthwhile for him. As Clark heeded to his plea to move with him, a focused look appeared on Bruce’s visage. He pulled back, adjusted his aim and inched towards Clark’s sweetest spot yet and_

 

“Mmhhaaaah!”

 

A melodic moan bled through Clark’s lips.

 

“Bruce! Oooh_my _god_ …!” Clark found it impossible to keep still.

 

And there went his hips again, bucking endlessly while his hands cupped around Bruce’s face to pull him in for a wet kiss. Bruce welcomed his needy gyrations this time as much as he welcomed the kiss. The Omega’s undulations made it simpler for Bruce to unfailingly find and prod at that spot again and again, making Clark whirl excitedly underneath his body with every penetrating burn; making Clark grow wetter around him and louder from the pleasure.

 

But it wasn’t solely Clark being noisy. They both were letting out moans and pants in reaction to the almost aching gratifications. This shared pleasure traveled from their smashing pelvises, up to the spine and down the rest of their glistening bodies to eventually sizzle in dissipation at their curled toes. Clark’s clenched stomach was already glazed with indication of his satisfaction. Barely touched without much need to be touched and sensitive.

 

With every thrust, the satisfaction repeated, each passing one better than the last, building up to something bigger. Clark dug his nails into Bruce’s delts and felt his body was soaring propelled by ecstasy. Arching his back, he burrowed the heels of both his feet against the small of Bruce’s back to drive him deeper and reflexively clenched around Bruce as he did so.

 

Bruce hissed, brimming hot with decadent pleasure. “Hm!…that’s good Clark...Uhh baby that’s good…”

 

“Yea?...” Clark croaked, his heart exploding from the compliment.

 

Bruce moaned. “Very.”

 

He buried his sweat-slick face in the equally sweat-slicked space between Clark’s neck and shoulder, seeding more compliments there. Clark bucked and moaned triumphantly to every word. Hearing Bruce going crazy for him filled him with more pleasure than he could comprehend. It was beyond visceral. Bruce’s voice sought to enter him as penetrating and deep as his cock. The low bass quality of the words slithered its way deep within him from every opening tempting everything beneath the raised hairs on his skin to convulse. 

 

In this moment, Clark’s innate desires to please an Alpha had never been so passionate. Each time his pulsing ring yanked and clenched around Bruce’s wonderfully thick girth, his muscles coaxing it towards knotting and seeding him, he cried in pleasure anticipating that moment he would break Bruce to receive and feel his orgasm.

 

Bruce emphasized each of his words of appreciation with his thrusts, which became deeper, faster, and less controlled. The burn of his fractured rib screamed at him to take it easy but, used to working through pain and feeling too much pleasure to quit, Bruce jerked his hips down harder and faster. Then he lifted up a little. One hand pinned Clark’s hip in place as the other grabbed the back of his right leg and pushed it forward. Bruce took complete control now and made love to Clark, holding very little back.

 

The force of Bruce’s thrusts grew powerful enough that the usually sturdy holdings of the bed started to rock and creak. Bruce had never been so focused, so firm, and determined to reach that higher level of bliss that would seal Clark to him. He moved passionately…faster, faster.

 

“Oh! Mmmh_I _Yes! Yea...yea Bruce!” Clark babbled. Breathlessly he followed his incoherent ramblings with a plea. “Please! I w-want your_Ahh Bruce!”

 

Bruce remained persistent igniting Clark’s juicy walls as the Omega screamed out his name. Clark thrust his hips down just as persistently, pleading the Alpha with his body to avoid stopping.

 

“What do you want?” Bruce whispered the question against the Omega’s heaving chest. “I’ll give you anything you want.”

 

“Your_uh…” Getting one’s words out in the state Clark proved challenging. But through gritted teeth, he continued to urge. “Your kn-knot…P-please. Knot me! Shit! I, I want it I want to be yours!”

 

Bruce moaned and locked his lips above Clark’s clavicle. He bit fervently at the skin there, never slowing down. The sides of the textured linen navy headboard shook with them and one bumped against the nightstand causing itself and its contents to fall to the floor noisily. But the ruckus couldn’t compete with the cacophony of noises that were Bruce’s muffled grunts, Clark’s pleas, and the alternating staccato of squelching sounds and slapping sounds of mating wet flesh.

 

“Bruce…” Clark’s eyes went shut just as tears threatened to release.

 

He was close. So madly close that his body started to tremble and touching Bruce only made the tremors worse but he didn’t want to let go.  His fingernails clawed at Bruce’s back, undoubtedly crafting lasting marks.  His clawing was immediately put to a stop as a shockwave of hotness originating from his core caused his arms to fall numb. His chest and hips sprung violently soon after. Seconds later, he felt the immense pleasurable heat again and again, increasingly soaring from his tail bone and travelling throughout his bloodstream.

 

“Bruce!”

 

Without even the time to give a warning, the ripples building inside his convulsing body coalesced into a tidal wave that gushed out of him as evidence of peak grateful pleasure. Clark screamed Bruce’s name in such a euphoric tone that it drove Bruce’s heart to skip a beat before it felt to have burst into pieces like a wine glass reacting to a high frequency noise.

 

“BRUCE! BRUCE! Yes, Bruce! Please! Oh Bruce please!” Clark cried on hysterically writhing erratically while his eyes rolled into his head.

 

He was a wreck; a whimpering mess of complete submission to Bruce and his orgasm. His member squirted his and the Alpha’s chest liberally with it. At the same time Bruce wheedled spatters of slick from him, slamming into his luscious opening until that knot he was so pathetically begging for came to temporarily impale him to the Alpha. A first for Bruce, he held back a scream by biting at Clark harder and simultaneously squeezed Clark’s hip with a promise to leave bruises there too.

 

“Clark…Uh…” As Bruce separated his lips from Clark, his voice was as weak as his body became.

 

Bruce lifted up and swayed forward slowly and frail. He had only enough strength to hold on to Clark to help keep himself upright. 

 

“Fuck! Bruce!”

 

After Bruce knotted him, another orgasm proved so absurdly enjoyable that Clark wanted to laugh, scream, and cry simultaneously. But cry in expletives instead he did. Without even a stutter, he had no control of what bolted from his lips. Just as well, he had no control of his hands as they squeezed, pinched, and scratched as they wormed up Bruce’s toned shoulders to eventually lock around the back of his neck. The fingers curled twitchingly there and struggled to bring the Alpha in against the will of his thrashing body that sought to keep him away from Bruce because his senses were overloaded.

 

Clark’s body got the better of him and he gave in, letting go of Bruce. His arms fell restive on the mattress. Bruce groaned the moment Clark let go as if in pain. Clark’s touch, though it was a little chocking, was a pacifying one. Loving and comforting. Without it, only then did Bruce’s breathing come out in hitching, inconsistent patterns as his body shuddered from the aftershocks.

 

The noises around him became stifled in his ears at the same time. His veiled eyes saw Clark’s lips moving but the words weren’t registering in his ears. The echo of his restored, beating heart and his own soft gasps muffled the surrounding noises. As long as Clark’s snug walls tightened and relaxed, milking more powerful surges of cum than the first few ropes that already went on to breed him, his ears were preoccupied. Eventually Clark’s touch found its way to his back again, caressing it in soothing circular motions and instantly Bruce felt some of his senses slowly come back to him.

 

“…I love you, I love you.” Clark writhed as Bruce rocked his body in a slow dance of a movement easing his tremors.

 

As the words registered, Bruce’s heart felt scorched with warmth just as his eyes burned with it too. “Me too…me too…Oh Clark... you’re good to me...so good to me…”

 

His already beaten muscles gave and he plummeted lightly on top of Clark.  The young man opened his arms wide before he had landed on his chest so that he could wrap Bruce in his arms. By his lobe, Bruce gave low whines and shuddered still releasing.  He didn’t know he had it in him to release as much as he was. He could feel the excess already trickling out of Clark.

 

“I, I w-want to be good for you.” Clark cooed happily, threading his fingers through his Alpha’s wet hair. “I’ll always be g-good for you.”

 

“Me too.” Bruce crooned.

 

“Y-you _are_ good.” Clark reassured. “You’re amazing…”

 

“Could be better…for you…” Bruce gasped, out of breath.

 

They kept on, moaning cheesy compliments and promises only lovers reeling from their climax tolerated of each other. Sighing against parted lips until their climaxes reached a resolution, their slow, sensual dance came to an end. And they melted with fatigue, their liquefied limbs intertwined in messy embrace.

 

For a few moments that felt like hours, they laid panting for breath only aware of and existing for each other. In their silence, they became surrounded inside and out by a sudden wave of emotions pervading their spirits. They were simultaneously coursing through them; emotions of fear, relief, pain, loss, sadness, and love. They felt love more strongly than the others.

 

Bruce almost wept with love for his mate. There was no denying what this beyond biological seal of union he had developed with the Omega was. This was it. Their bond. Bruce could tell by the way Clark was eyeing him in dream-like silence that he too was experiencing the same phenomenon. Then in seconds, the otherworldly incantation dissipated as quickly as they came under it. But after some while, Clark's concern for Bruce was the only thing that could penetrate the comfortable silence as he found the breath to speak.

 

"Bruce, your chest… how d-does it feel?"

  
  
Bruce's knot began to soften. He grimaced a little, held his breath and then pulled out from Clark carefully. He held it again before rolling off Clark to go on his back.

  
  
"Everything hurts_" he answered.

  
  
"Ooooh." Clark wailed interrupting him. He grunted, dizzily sitting up. "Sh-should've waited! It's m-my fault. How bad is it Bruce? Do y-you need some pain medicine? I'll get them f-for you. Don't move too much okay? Ooh m_"

  
  
Bruce yawned groggily before cutting Clark off. "Clark. You didn't even let me finish."

  
  
"What else could you mean to say?" Clark sulked confused.

  
  
Bruce smirked. "Everything hurts just like before. No more or less. And nothing feels broken."

  
  
Clark took a deep breath then let it out in a relieved yet exhausted sigh. He fished around to find the T-shirt he had been wearing that belonged to Bruce and without much thought started to wipe the off-white streaks of mess he left on Bruce and himself. Bruce was too much of a mixture of amused by and appreciative of the gesture to complain about his clothes being used in such manner. Clark then tossed the sullied shirt aside and fell back on the bed limply.

 

"Okay good.” He moaned snuggling up to Bruce. “Because I really, really, really l-like you. And I need you to get b-better so we can do that again. And maybe again and again."

  
  
Bruce smiled. "Is making you cry my name in bed and having my chest and clothes being used for your mess all that I'm going to be good for?" He wrapped his arm around Clark. “I don't particularly mind it. I might make a habit of it."

  
  
Clark chortled into his chest. His cheeks went bright red from Bruce’s comment and from just remembering the pile of clothes they were lying on.

 

"You’re an Alpha so I don’t expect you to understand. They were all I h-had next to the real thing.” Clark explained himself. Then he changed the subject and mirrored Bruce's playfulness. “But if you w-want to be used in some other ways, you can always buy me dinner too."

  
  
"I'd like that. Hopefully, no messy clothes." Bruce kissed Clark sincerely on the head. "I really would like that."

  
  
Clark lifted his head up to face Bruce, his heart raced again. An amused wary look on his face. "Are you trying to ask me out?"

  
  
Bruce smiled nervously at him. Temporarily tongue-tied. "I_well. Would you?" 

  
  
Clark grinned. "You're a dork."

  
  
"Is that a no?... yes?" Bruce asked.

  
  
"Only if I deserve it." Clark joked, giggling.

  
  
Bruce didn’t smile and looked away in guilt. “Right.”

 

“I’m joking.” Clark said, feeling immediately regretful. 

 

“No.” Bruce remained straight faced. “You’re right. I did say some thoughtless things and it would be useless to tell you that I can’t imagine breaking your heart.”

 

Clark nodded, sucking in his cheeks. “Yea. Maybe that would be useless after you…already did once. S-so, tell me something else then. Something you mean. A promise you won’t have already broken.”

 

Bruce turned to look at Clark again. “Clark, I want to be good for you. I meant that. I’m not flawless when it comes to this…where we’re going.  I’ve never been. But I can be better. You’re mine and I won’t ever let go.”

 

Clark swallowed audibly and went genuinely speechless, touched by the familiar words. They alone did more to convince the Omega of how thoughtful Bruce was of their bond than the ‘L’ word or any other words could.

 

He kissed Bruce lightly on the nose, bumped foreheads with him, and closed his eyes. “Don’t you d-dare let go Bruce. Oh, if I didn’t feel so bad for probably losing Alfred’s trust, I’d ride you to another knot.”

 

Bruce blinked, stumped by Clark’s sudden bluntness.  He shook his head slightly to recollect his thoughts, getting them out of the gutter.

 

“You won’t lose his trust. I came to you. I’ll be the one getting in trouble.” Bruce guaranteed. His hand clasped onto Clark’s thigh to pull his leg over his hip. “But I’ll take note of what puts you in the mood to ride me.”

 

Clark giggled so much that he had to look elsewhere but at Bruce so as to keep his heart from racing so much. He felt silly for how much he enjoyed being wanted by Bruce. He was going wet again but made the tough decision to close his legs the moment Bruce loosened his hold of his thigh.

 

“You do that.” He said biting his lip. “But I think right now, you really need to rest. You’ve d-done a lot. Round two can wait.”

 

Bruce hummed with a frown on his face but agreed to give in to his overtaking exhaustion. The same exhaustion that quickly seemed to be affecting Clark too. Almost in synch, they both closed their eyes with small smiles glued on their lips.

 

“Hey Bruce?” Clark called after a short time of snoozing.

 

“Hmm?” The billionaire answered, his eyes still closed.

 

“Yes.”

 

“What?” Bruce asked. Confused eyes peeked through dark lashes.

 

“Asking me out?” Clark reminded him, blushing silly. “Yes.”

 

Bruce smiled. “Good. By the way, thank you for saving me…Clark.” With that, Bruce closed his eyes again.

 

So he missed seeing that Clark was pushed to tears by the gratitude. The awful memories of the night before came back to him. The visions of Bruce on the verge of death while he was miles away and helpless to save him all flooded back to him. Clark thought to tell Bruce, _“Don’t ever scare me like that again.”_ But he kept it to himself and instead pressed his body against Bruce’s as much as he could without causing distress to the injuries. Bruce responded by holding on tightly to Clark and the younger man fell overwhelmingly amorous of him.

 

Like Bruce, Clark felt for the first time a while, happy. Stupidly in love and happy. This honest sweetness from an Alpha was going to take some time to get used to. The sugar on top was that the used-to-be Gotham City bachelor was breathtakingly easy on his eyes but, it was Bruce’s altruism, touch, and care that were all on the list of things he was looking forward to getting used to. All of which nearly made it worth the devastating journey that lead him right here in Bruce’s arms. As Bruce slept, Clark laid an ear cautiously against Bruce’s chest. He found and listened carefully to Bruce's heartbeat, seeking to memorize it.


End file.
